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Kellow & Brown, Printers and Bookbinders 
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The Thinking Universe 

Reason as Applied to the 

Manifestations of 

the Infinite 



BY 

EDMUND E. SHEPPARD 

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Price $2.00 



THE AUTHORS' COMPANY, PUBLISHERS 
1735 WEST SIXTH STREET 
LOS ANGELES, CAL. 

DISTRIBUTORS 

ADVANCED THOUGHT PUBLISHING CO. 
168 N. MICHIGAN AVE., CHICAGO. ILL. 






Copyright, 1915, by Edmund E. Sheppard. 
Washington, D. C. 



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OCi 18 1915 



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CI.A414112 



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DEDICATION 



To every untiring seeker after Truth whose patient 
researches have brought World knowledge up to the 
high point from which I have been able to find the 
Infinite; to Clinton Ambrose Billig, M.A., Ph.D., 
D.D., whose loving ministrations through years of 
suffering have helped me find the Light, and to all 
lovers of Truth, I gratefully dedicate this book. 

E. E. S. 



PLAN OF 
"THE THINKING UNIVERSE" 



The aim of this work is to make comprehensible 
the Grandeur of the Immobile, Intangible Infinite, 
reposing Majestically in its Eternal, Unchanging 
Stillness, in Everything, as Everything, propelling 
Everything. 

Its Method is by a proper classification and des- 
cription of the processes of the human mind to make 
clear that Right Reasoning must precede Right 
Thinking, which is synonymous with Right Acting. 

Its Development shows that human beings, always 
eager for health, happiness and prosperity, finding 
these things dependent upon the Rightness of 
their thoughts, will become more careful in their 
Reasoning and thus live cleaner and more reasonable 
lives. 

Its Iconoclasm is only that of removing obstacles 
delaying Man in his progress to Perfection. 

Its Constructiveness is the convincing of Man of his 
sufficient equipment to overcome all impediments to 
his arrival at Positive Rightness. 

Its Effect, by divesting Death of its terrors and 
the Future Life of its unreasonable dulness, must be 
to cause Man to regard Life Here and Now as a 
pleasing and profitable incident preparatory to still 
more pleasing and profitable experiences There 
and Then. 

Its Hope is that it may find its way into every 
home and every life. 



CONTENTS 



Chapter I. 

Life and Living — The Eternal Urge — The Main- 
spring of Being Page 1 7 

Chapter II. 
Reason — Its Office and Power Page 28 

Chapter III. 
Studying Infinity — Spiritual Insight Page 40 

Chapter IV. 

Infinite Life and the Beginning of Its Expres- 
sions Page 51 

Chapter V. 

Positive and Negative Life — Power and Its Ex- 
pressions Page 61 

Chapter VI. 

Negative Life — The Development of Subcon- 
sciousnesses ., Page 67 



Chapter VII. 

The Influence of the Subconscious on the Reason 
— Divine Hypnotism ? Page 86 

Chapter VIII. 
Living Is but a Series of States of Mind Page 108 

Chapter IX. 
Law — The Infinite as It Works in Nature Page 123 

Chapter X. 

Man Can Understand Infinite Laws and Is 
Equipped to Take Care of Himself Page 137 

Chapter XL 

Looking Again at What We Have Seen — A 
Review of Our Reasonings..... Page 154 

Chapter XII. 

Infinite Law Unbreakable — A Man Cannot Con- 
sciously Act Unless at the Moment of Action He 
decides He Is Right Page 164 

Chapter XIII. 

The Laws of Expressed Life — Their Evolution 
and Scope — The Law of Moses Page 182 



Chapter XIV. 

The Law of Christ — Its Origin and How It Be- 
came Theologized Page 199 

Chapter XV. 

"The Judgment Day" — Forever in Which to 
Decide Page 217 

Chapter XVI. 

The Devil and How to Chain Him — Why Our 
Subconsciousness is Slow to Respond to the 
Will Page 230 

Chapter XVII. 

Healing — How r to Make Rightness Prevail in 
Your Physical Being Page 246 

Chapter XVIII. 

Hypnosis — Auto-Hypnosis — Control of the Sub- 
consciousness Page 258 

Chapter XIX. 

The Healthy, Happy, Prosperous Ego — How We 
Can Affect Ourselves and Others Page 272 



Chapter XX. 

The Evolution of Christianity — Christian Science 

Page 289 

Chapter XXI. 

The Future Life, Revealed by the Law of Right- 
ness Page 311 

Chapter XXII. 

Conclusion — The Office of Reason in the Infinite 
Economy Page 328 



FOREWORD 



Infinite Life — Universal Mind- — is the Supreme 
Power. It is the essence of a Force comparable to 
nothing else, which, through Reason caused to be 
Positive by Rightness, can be made more fully opera- 
tive within us, and thus bring us Health and Happi- 
ness Here and Now as well as There and Then. It 
is the purpose of this work to show how Reason can 
be made Positive in Rightness. 

This is a dear, good old world, much as in mo- 
ments of misery we may think or say to the con- 
trary. We know that the universe is not misbegot- 
ten or misconducted, for everything in it is right 
but ourselves. We are the only things capable of 
reasoning, and as we are the only things that get out 
of gear with the universe it must be our Reason that 
is at fault. Our mistakes we call sins, and we suffer 
for them. We try, oh ! so hard, and fail, or seem to 
fail, yet the Universal Urge to Rightness that we 
see working so perfectly in everything about us is 
also in US. There must be a way for us to arrive 
at Rightness. Come let us reason together and we 
will find it. 



Over half a century ago, when the writer was but 
a "wee bit laddie," his maiden aunt was in the habit 
of paying an annual visit to the farmhouse in which 
he was born. Welcome as was her coming, it is to 
be feared that she would not have been so eagerly 
looked for had it not been for the box of presents 
which she never failed to bring from the city for us 
children. We were permitted to open the box for 
ourselves and to select our own belongings. What 
joy! Every toy, every trinket, every book, was a 
treasure of art. Is it not possible for you to look 
into a new book with something of the same ex- 
pectancy as we peered into Auntie's box? The Great 
Philosophy asserts that unless we become as little 
children we can in no wise enter the Kingdom of 
Heaven — the State of Harmony. We cannot physi- 
cally or mentally return to the state of childhood, but 
we can retain, or bring back if we have lost it, our 
faculty of Image Making. We can hold communion 
with unseen familiars as do children. We can be 
expectant ta the point of believing that that which 
is so intensely hoped for is already ours. We can, 
in fact, become so aware of what Is as to know It 
without the aid of, indeed in spite of, our physical 
senses. It is to be hoped you will read this book 
in such a spirit. What is a book but a parcel of 
thoughts, things wrapped up in printed words? The 
container may be crude, but undo the wrapping 
carefully and you will find something in it for YOU. 



Everything in it is intended for YOU. Every cult 
has its vocabulary — its jargon. As little as possible 
of this sort of thing has been used without becoming 
tiresome to the specialists, who express in one word 
what would require an explanatory paragraph 

This book may be small, but it will be found far 
too large for those who do not try to understand it; 
it will seem just the right size to those who grasp and 
appreciate its meaning, and it will not be too large 
for those who become interested and determined to 
weigh its statements by reading it ovei and over 
again. 

The thoughts themselves have come out of the 
fire of years of suffering, and should be as pure as 
they are joyous in their release. Do not open this 
book with a yawn or a sneer. If you are in a mood 
which makes you feel like tearing something, put 
The Thinking Universe aside till you are in a humor 
to have a real good think. That you will then find 
that everything in it is for YOU is the wish of 

The Author. 



CHAPTER I 



Life and Living — The Eternal Urge — The 
Mainspring of Being 



At the outset let us see together. In order to 
see alike we must take the same viewpoint and 
know that we are looking at the same thing. We 
are about to look at Life and its Phenomena. Life 
and Living are by no means identical. Life is the 
Infinite, the Immobile, the Unchanging, the All- 
powerful, the All-wise, the Omnipresent, the Abso- 
lute, the Ultimate. This we will examine later on, 
after we have looked at things about which we are 
more accustomed to reason. While Infinite Life is 
motionless, Expressed Life is all and always in mo- 
tion. We and all things distinguishable by the 
senses, as well as everything that exists, even in the 
most intangible form, such as light, heat, sound, elec- 
tricity, and our unsensuous bodies, not discernible by 
our physical faculties, belong to Expressed Life. 
Admitting for the moment what later will be proved, 
that everything is Mind, everything must think, as 
that is what Mind does. Mind and Life are iden- 
tical. When we live, we think ; when we think, we 
live. 



18 Ths Thinking Univkrss 

While Infinite Life is not divisible and is every- 
where in all things, we will for the present accom- 
modate ourselves to our habit of thought and think 
of it and its Expressions separately. At once we 
can find a common viewpoint — we are all Living. 
We do not all live alike, because by heredity and 
environment we are not so constituted as to reason 
all alike. Heredity and environment affect our ideas 
of values. We do not all like the same things. To 
the Esquimaux in the frozen North a piece of whale 
blubber, disgusting to differently bred residents of 
a milder climate, is a savory morsel. Even amongst 
people inhabiting the same zone, of the same race, 
and very much the same religion, there are many 
superficial differences as to ways of living. The car- 
penter, the blacksmith, the clerk, the farmer, the 
professional man, in the ordinary routine of living, 
works as he thinks, and the monotony of his life is 
great or small according to the amount of thought 
he devotes to his work. Until recently women's tasks 
were less varied and more monotonous than those of 
men, and it is no wonder they considered their daily 
routine of housekeeping and dish-washing, cooking, 
and sewing, and bed-making, and scrubbing, insuf- 
ferably dull. Because their tasks excited but little 
reasoning, they did little living. 



Life and Living — The Eternal Urge 19 

To get a yet nearer viewpoint of Living, let us 
drop all differences as to ways of "making a living" 
and glance at the social life of two modern homes. 
The home of the wealthy man is luxurious, but not 
necessarily happy. Leisure does not always cause 
good reasoning, and where good reasoning is absent 
good conduct cannot be found. If all the reasoning 
in the home is about money, fashion, pleasure, all 
the conversation will be about such things. In the 
poor man's home necessity may cause money to be 
a topic frequently discussed, together with the 
absence of pleasure, variety, and ease, and the result 
is the same — poor living because of poor reasoning. 

Let us get nearer still. The wife and mother is 
on her deathbed. In both homes alike the grief- 
stricken family is gathered about the loved one who 
is about to pass away. The grief in both cases is 
heartfelt, the anguish of parting acute. Both homes 
have come to the same door, and as it opens and 
the spirit flutters out they stand on the same plane, 
they are confronted by a general principle, that living 
Here and Now must terminate. They are uplifted 
and purified to the extent of their conception of what 
this so-called Death means, but in no case do they 
really feel that living is over for THEM, though it 
may be for HER. They do not wish, they do not 
even attempt to lie down and die with her, no matter 



20 The: Thinking Universe 

what their love for her may have been. Why? The 
Urge of Life is too strong within them to entertain 
such a thought. They go about their tasks as usual, 
and the agony of grief is a thing folded up and laid 
away. The business man, the inventor, the specu- 
lator, the adventurer, fails, but he tries again. Why? 
There is an Urge within him that keeps him from 
giving up. Human persistence would be incredible, 
non-existent, if it were not for that something within 
us which persists in spite of failures. The world is 
said to love a lover and to hate a quitter. The 
Universe is held together by the attraction of things 
to their kind, but there is no such thing as quitting 
in the Infinite; everything is continuous in some 
form. No man commits suicide until he has made 
up his mind that it is Right for HIM to do so. 
Worry, overwork, fear, a weariness of reasoning 
what to do next, may put the physical machinery 
by which he expresses himself out of order, but you 
may be sure that even in his deranged state he rea- 
sons he is doing right when he puts himself out of 
his sensuous body. Even the pessimist, that unfor- 
tunate creature of whom it has been said that of 
two evils he chooses both, does not "quit," though 
we often wish he would. Why? Because there is 
something better, more hopeful, in him, than he 
expresses. He is only trying to make an average 
for himself by seeking to bring his fellowmen down 



Life and Living — The Eternal Urge 21 

to the low level of weariness of all things as they 
are. 

We will see before we get very far in these 
studies how many of the commonest expressions we 
so frequently use are full of meaning that we have 
never appreciated, and we will cease to doubt the 
presence within us of the Infinite Urge to Right- 
ness that is continually shaping the phrases by 
which we express ourselves. For instance, have 
you ever stopped to consider where you "go" when 
you "go to sleep," or where people "go" when they 
"go crazy," or what becomes of the sound when it 
"dies away," or the light when it "goes out"? Did 
you ever ask yourself why you "must have some 
excuse" before you do anything of doubtful propri- 
ety? Now that your attention is called to it, you 
will remember often having used or heard the old 
saying, "Be sure you are right, then go ahead." 
How do you get sure you "are right," and how do 
you "go ahead"? We so seldom consider our men- 
tal processes. Simple as they are when we come to 
understand them, it is not strange that we so often 
find ourselves in a mental fog, and rashly accuse 
LIFE of being unintelligible or stupid, while the 
stupidity is ours and LIFE is unintelligible only 
because we have not sincerely sought to understand it. 



22 The Thinking Universe 

"All that a man hath will he give for his life/' 
This oft-quoted text does not overstate the case, yet 
every day we are made aware that men, consumed 
by passion or lust, risk their lives by slaying their 
fellows, or in some hazardous attempt to obtain 
money or fame, while yet others, unheeding the 
strongest human instinct, self-preservation, endanger 
or lose their lives to save their fellow-creatures. 
Why? What is the mainspring of life? Why are 
some people diseased, distorted, while others are 
apparently well and happy? Why is there any sick- 
ness at all, any such thing as we call death? Why 
are some rich and prosperous, while others are pov- 
erty-stricken and appear to be helpless in their fight 
for their share? Why are some happy and hopeful 
while others are miserable and despairing? Why 
Job's ancient and anguished cry, "If a man die, 
shall he live again ?" Theologians and scientists are 
as wide apart as the poles in answering these ques- 
tions, and fail to satisfy that which we call Reason. 

Why? Is Reason a thing to be satisfied? 

Is it worth your while to seek the law of your 
Being? As you cannot escape Being and should 
seek to know how to Be Right, the answer seems 
easy. To the open-minded and thoughtful the appeal 
of well-founded and concentrated Reason should not 
be difficult and should receive careful and honest 



Life and Living — The: Eternal Urge 23 

consideration. With those natures which are narrow, 
hide-bound, and set in the belief that "man was made 
to mourn/' be sick, suffering, unrestful, it seems 
almost useless to argue, but even they may be 
reached. Those who are fond of assuming the 
jester's attitude and quote with frequency and appro- 
bation the saying of the superficial humorist that 
"Life is just one damned old thing after another," 
are difficult of access because they are so engrossed 
with the task of getting something jolly out of life 
right Here and Now that they think they cannot 
afford the time to consider whether they are really 
getting the best of what is going. If they will 
pause for a moment and carefully scrutinize the dif- 
ference between Life and Living, they may be led 
to seek further. Our mode of living is certainly 
"one old thing after another" — the same old tasks; 
carrying the same old bucket to the same old well; 
the same monotonous old grind for the man, relieved 
by occasional and admitted foolishness ; the same 
dreary routine for the woman, housekeeping, cooking 
and dish-washing and bed-making, with occasional 
frivolities to vary the sameness, or it may be the 
same useless rounds of aimless frivolities, which 
result, in the end, in filling life with a nauseating 
sameness. This, as has been already said, may be 
Living, but it is not Life. Life avoids sameness, and 
when understood is seen to be filled with new and 



24 The: Thinking Universe 

changing things, as beautifully regular in their 
appearance as the changing seasons, which are never 
exactly alike. To those who study the Law of Being 
the ever-changing, ever beautiful, ever just expres- 
sions of Life become a delight. The old tasks assume 
new aspects, as they are undertaken with a new 
purpose, a new hope, a new perspective. 

It is not our fondness for living as we do which 
makes us cling to Life. If it were, we would not see 
men risking or losing their lives as we do. It is 
something higher. It is that which is known to the 
thoughtful as the Infinite Urge to Rightness which 
is within all of us. We cannot question the exist- 
ence of the Infinite, for when we look at the wonders 
of our own being and of all the beings in the animal, 
vegetable and mineral kingdoms we dimly compre- 
hend, as the Cause is greater than the Effect, that 
there is something superior to ourselves or anything 
distinguishable by our senses. This Something, 
science and experience teach us, is Everywhere, and 
we reasonably conclude that it does Everything. 
This we call the Infinite. Each thing as we come 
to understand it appears to be for our good, and we 
conclude that the Cause of everything is good. 
In all Nature we every day see evidences of progress, 
the new, the fresh, the beautiful, the useful, replacing 
the old, the withered, the useless. In everything but 



Life and Living — The Eternal Urge 25 

ourselves we see that this is good, and because 
things are not stationary, but progressive, we con- 
clude that that which caused all these good things 
is still Causing, and we call this power the Infinite 
Urge to Rightness. 

Let us look at a grain of wheat. With a proper 
environment of warmth and moisture it germinates ; 
in proper soil it grows; the blade, the stalk appears, 
the head of wheat, the ripened grain. We do not 
know how it is done. We cannot make a grain of 
wheat that will grow. All we can say is that its 
growth and development are caused by the Infinite 
Urge to Rightness. The grain never develops into a 
thistle or a cabbage; it is always Right. It is so 
with the acorn and the oak. Each germinal thing 
develops its kind. That each thing develops in this 
way gives us faith that each thing will continue to 
do so, and in no sense can our sensuous under- 
standing be the basis of believing that which we 
cannot demonstrate. So we must accept the Infinite 
Urge to Rightness as being the means by which the 
Infinite Causation produces results, even though we 
cannot sense it or technically understand its opera- 
tions. Does the agnostic who is proud of his skep- 
ticism ever consider himself when he says that he 
cannot believe anything which he cannot see, hear, 
taste, smell, or feel? Does he ever consider his 



26 Ths Thinking Universe 

origin even as far back as physical science will carry 
him? Is he not aware that in physics he can be 
traced back to an egg as small as the head of a wee 
pin, an egg beside which the one he has for breakfast 
would be mammoth in size? Does he cite to him- 
self the fact that he is the product of this smaller 
egg, while the chicken is the product of the larger 
one? When he says that he does not believe in 
anything he does not understand, does he believe 
that he himself IS ? He must know, not sensuously 
but unsensuously — spiritually — that he, six-footer as 
he may be, was potentially contained in that egg. 
He must know that his size, his shape, the color of 
his eyes and hair, and all his bodily and spiritual 
conditions in embryo, were contained in that egg; 
that just as the egg of the Dorking hen fecundated 
by one of her own kind produces a Dorking chick, 
so by the same law he is what he is. How does he 
account for the minute egg developing into the large 
man? His father and mother did not cause it to 
develop. He did not do it, though he may have 
assisted slightly in making the development more 
perfect than it was in embryo in the egg. But if he 
did so help development himself, does he ask why? 
Why should he make the effort? At this point he 
comes face to face with the fact that his apparently 
automatic and self development are both the effect 



Life and Living — The Eternal Urge 27 

of the Infinite Urge to Rightness within him. It is 
the mainspring of Life, unerring in its workings 
throughout Unreasoning Nature, and equally unerr- 
ing in Reasoning Man, who only doubts its good- 
ness and justice because he reasons wrongly about 
It, as he is ignorant of the law by which It works 
and misunderstands his relation to It. 

Let us now examine the means which we have 
at our disposal for studying the Infinite and learning 
its law, that we may conform to it and direct its 
irresistible power towards our happiness, harmony 
and well-being. 



CHAPTER II. 

Reason — Its Office and Power 

In approaching the study of Infinity it is well for 
us to consider our equipment for so serious a task. 
A moment's thought convinces us that we can call to 
our assistance nothing but that which we ordinarily 
should use in scrutinizing the most commonplace sub- 
jects — Reason. What is this thing we call Reason? 
What is its office, what its power? Lexicographers 
define Reason as "(n) That mental faculty in man 
which enables him to deduce inferences from facts, 
and to distinguish between right and wrong; right 
judgment; efficient or final cause; cause for opinion 
or act; premise of an argument, especially the minor; 
v. i. to infer conclusions from premises ; v. t. to per- 
suade by reasoning." So far as is known, Man alone 
is endowed with Reason, and to the possession of this 
faculty is ascribed his superiority to all other Expres- 
sions of Infinity. Admitting this as indisputable, we 
find that, Man being the superlative Expression of 
Infinity because of his possession of Reason, there- 
fore Reason must be the highest Expression of the 
Infinite, that thing which is nearest to Infinity itself. 



Reason — Its Office and Power 29 

This at once gives to Reason the highest place in the 
Universe next to the Infinite Mind — a place generally 
denied to it by Theologians, who place Faith as supe- 
rior to it in arriving at a conclusion with regard to 
Infinity, even while admitting the superiority of Rea- 
son as a guide in more commonplace matters. This 
discrimination as to the office of Reason in grave or 
trivial matters is illogical, for it is by Reason alone 
that we can distinguish between the important and 
the unimportant. Faith itself is but Reason satisfied 
by proofs that are not of the senses. In considering 
a subject what proofs of this sort can be adduced? 
To discover this we must further examine the purpose 
and power of Reason, though this involves the accept- 
ance as facts of what in later chapters will be demon- 
strated to be truths. 

Life and Mind are synonymous. Neither could have 
existed prior to the other, and nothing could have 
been prior to either. The human — the only Reason- 
ing — mind cannot conceive of a condition of nothing- 
ness, and we assume that there never could have been 
and never can be such a condition. The Reasoning 
mind, however, can conceive of a condition when 
there was but one thing — Life, Mind. This statement 
is not technically exact, for Life, Mind, is not a 
thing, but That which causes all things. The differ- 
ence between a thing and the cause of the thing will 



30 Ths Thinking Universe 

become more apparent as we go further into the 
subject. Mind, abhorring loneliness, expressed itself, 
as all Mind does. This is what we have been in the 
habit of calling the creation of Things. The word 
creation is avoided in this work because it carries with 
it in the popular mind the idea of something being 
made out of nothing — an impossibility. The word 
Expression is used instead of Creation, as expression 
is the natural and well understood product of Mind. 
Mind, being alone, had no material or tools but itself 
to make anything out of, but it could and did Express 
itself, and its Expressions, like itself, were Fixed and 
Eternal. So far scientists have been able to discover 
between eighty and ninety elemental Expressions from 
which all things have been evolved. These, in this 
study, are termed Consciousnesses — a Consciousness 
being a something which knows what it is. These 
Consciousnesses being the expressions of Infinity, are 
eternal, indestructible. This indestructibility has been 
known in science as the Indestructibility of the Atom ; 
in this study as the Indestructibility of the Conscious- 
ness. 

In order to avoid any misunderstanding as to the 
meaning of the word Atom let us define the sense in 
which it is used in this work . In the final analysis 
of so-called "matter" the smallest quantity calculable 
into which a thing can be divided is called an "appar- 



Reason — Its Office and Power 31 

ent atom/' Beyond this there must be still further 
gradations as the "apparent atom" nears the point of 
closest approach to Positive Life, in which there are 
no atoms, there being no dimensions. At this point 
of closest approach the real atom is to be found, if it 
is flndable, and it is Indestructible, Unconvertible, 
Eternal. The number of elemental atoms to be found 
in the final analysis is less important than to estab- 
lish the atom as the Indestructible Unit — the basis of 
all these partnerships and combinations which we 
know as Things. 

These Expressions were formed by vibrations ; that 
is, the Infinite Expression became a Thing, a Con- 
striction, by forming a force within Life itself. This 
Constriction consisted of a vibration, and the differ- 
ence of vibrations produced the difference in Things. 
This introduced Density and Motion, for, contrary to 
the teaching of Physics, all Life is not Motion, Infi- 
nite Life being Absolute Stillness, it having Nowhere 
to go and Nothing in which to move. Expressed Life 
is Motion, moving easily through the Intangible and 
Unresisting Infinite Life. Movement itself implies 
the going of Some Thing from Some Place to Some 
Where. The introduction of the principle of Density 
was thus followed by Time, Time expressing the 
number of vibrations it required a Thing to make to 
go from one locality to another, and the possibility 



32 The Thinking Universe 

of considering Things in terms of Time and Space 
began. As has been proven by the patient and more 
or less accurate researches of the teachers of the 
theory of Evolution, everything began in its simplest 
form, but, impelled by the Infinite Urge, Atoms began 
at once to form Combinations. These Combinations, 
impelled by the same Urge, formed other Combina- 
tions, these again multiplying into the myriad Ex- 
pressions of Life we see about us. In these Combi- 
nations the elemental Atom retains its identity, which 
is Indestructible, though when associated with another 
or many other Atoms of its own or other kinds new 
Expressions of Life are formed. These Expressions 
are called Subconsciousnesses, and these Combina- 
tions are both formed and dissolved by the Eternal 
Urge of Infinity, in which Everything is, and which 
is in Everything. It is evident in studying the 
economy of the Infinite that it is necessarily true that 
these Subconsciousnesses be ephemeral in order that 
Progress may be made. Thus by the constant disso- 
lution of these Subconsciousnesses room and material 
are provided for other Combinations of a superior 
sort. The movements of these Atoms in seeking this 
progressive adjustment are known to us as Vibrations. 
Everything, then, from the first Expression of Life 
has been in the direction of Automatic and Pro- 
gressive Readjustment, with one exception, everything 



Reason — Its Office and Power 33 

being impelled by the Infinite Urge. In Man alone 
has this been different, he being the only Triune 
Expression, the Trinity being formed of the associa- 
tion of Atoms constituting his Subconsciousness ; the 
presence within him of the Infinite with its Eternal 
Urge, which we call the Supraconsciousness, and the 
special Consciousness — Reason — which gives him his 
identity and superlative status. 

Let us now take one of the many glimpses we will 
get of how exactly the workings of elemental so- 
called Physical and Spiritual laws are the duplicates 
of each other. We will take Reason — the human 
Consciousness — and the human Subconsciousness, and 
we will find a startling similarity in their workings. 
The Subconsciousness has charge of the nourishment 
and maintenance of the body. The mouth and throat 
furnish the intake for the food and drink; the stom- 
ach and digestive system change these things into 
blood, which for the purpose of purification is carried 
to the respiratory system, and passing through the 
lungs is clarified and "spiritualized" (made finer) by 
the air received through the mouth, nostrils and 
throat, before being put into circulation. Thus we 
see that the nutritive system of our physical body has 
but ONE intake, the throat. Reason — the human 
Consciousness — which has charge of the nourishment 
and maintenance of the spiritual body, has SEVEN 



34 Th£ Thinking Universe 

intakes whereby to obtain Knowledge, which is the 
nourishment required by our intellectual body. This 
Knowledge is taken in by the five senses — Sight, 
Hearing, Smell, Taste, and Feeling. These enable 
Reason to adjust the intellectual body to the environ- 
ment of NOW. By the Memory intake it draws 
from the Subconsciousness knowledge of what was 
good and bad in the past, and this is mixed, so to 
speak, with the information acquired by the Senses 
and digested in the Perceptive and Receptive depart- 
ments of our Intellectual faculties. Unfortunately 
this is as far as much of our most nutritive informa- 
tion goes, but it should go further. Like the digested 
food, which is only crude blood until it is purified by 
the respiratory system, the information digested by 
our Reason in the Receptive organs of our brain is 
crude until it is carried into the Reflective system, 
which has an intake which, like the Memory intake 
reaching the Subconsciousness, reaches our Supracon- 
sciousness, the Infinite Life — the Infinite Rightness 
within us. This Infinite Life, when sought for by us 
as we seek for fresh air for our respiratory system 
when we are in a badly ventilated room, we can draw 
into our Reflective faculties to purify and make right 
the thoughts we place there to be benefited by this 
process. Drawing in this life is like breathing, only 
it is not automatic, as are all the functionings of 



Reason — Its Office and Powsr 35 

Subconscious life; drawing it in must be Conscious — 
i. e., we must know we are doing it, as we must 
KNOW we are doing everything that we do intel- 
lectually. If our thoughts are passed into our intel- 
lectual circulation — the motor brain and nervous sys- 
tem — in a crude and unclarified state, they weaken 
and damage us, just as blood not properly clarified by 
the respiratory system, going into circulation through- 
out the physical body, weakens and damages it. It 
will thus be seen that the seventh intake with w T hich 
Reason provides itself with nourishment is the most 
important, though for the adjustment of our intel- 
lectual bodies Here and Now, what is acquired by the 
other intakes cannot be neglected. Thus when we 
Act — which is but the expression of Thinking, which 
in its turn is but the expression of Reason after it 
has arrived at what it considers Rightness — without 
using any one of the six intakes provided for the 
adjustment of our intellectual life to the environment 
of Here and Now, we are almost certain to get into 
trouble. Thus, when we express ourselves by walk- 
ing and do not use our Sight we are proceeding as a 
man does in the dark, and are apt to stumble and fall. 
If we do not use our Hearing, warnings of danger 
shouted to us will not be heeded and we are apt to get 
hurt. If we do not use our sense of Smell we are 
apt to be asphyxiated. A disregard of the precaution 



36 The Thinking Universe 

of exercising our Taste may cause us to be poisoned; 
and if we pay no attention to Feeling we will be 
damaged by excessive heat and cold, or suffer shock 
from experiencing too much pain. If we are oblivi- 
ous of what Memory tells us we will repeat the mis- 
takes of the past, to our great detriment. Thus we 
see that we cannot afford to inhibit, if we desire intel- 
lectual life in its fulness, any of the intakes of Reason ; 
while on the other hand we must come to the conclu- 
sion that we are making as great a mistake by feeding 
our Reason with the wrong things, or anything in 
indigestible quantities, as we are when we feed our 
stomach with too many sweets, spices, stimulants or 
fats, or indeed anything which cannot be properly 
assimilated. 

Now that we have fully seized the facts with regard 
to the process of Reasoning, let us make sure that we 
do not confuse it with Thinking. Thinking is the 
result of Reasoning put into action — into circulation 
— by the Reasoning Being. Thinking in Unreason- 
ing Nature is action without Reasoning — action from 
the Point of Rightness set for each thing by the 
Infinite and caused by Its Urge. Of this we shall 
see much more ; but in the meantime do not be con- 
fused by the intimacy of the two processes into mis- 
understanding the office of either. 

Spiritual body is used in the above to designate the 



Reason — Its Office and Power 37 

intangible something which is the essence, the mean- 
ing, of our so-called material body. It is that which 
gives motion and expression to the elemental sub- 
stances of which our temporary bodies are composed, 
and is in fact the real body. 

The seventh intake of Reason, we have seen, con- 
sists of its avenue of contact with the Supraconscious, 
that Infinite Life which indisputably — as it is Omni- 
present — occupies a corporeal body to its fulness. It 
is to what it receives by this intake, which we will 
call Awareness, that we direct our attention in order 
to discover what may be received by Reason to influ- 
ence its decision, which is not a part of memory, 
education, or experience — that is, in fact, outside the 
reach of the senses. It is evident, in considering the 
Purpose of Man, as indicated by his progress and 
capabilities, that he was Expressed to arrive at Per- 
fection — not necessarily on this earthly plane, but 
ultimately. It is also evident that this Perfection is to 
be of our own finding, and the only means given us 
of arriving at Perfection is the full and proper use 
of our Reason. In nourishing our fleshly bodies we 
have to draw the food and air to us. In nourishing 
our spiritual bodies we draw in from Memory, and to 
receive nourishment from the Infinite Life within us 
we must draw it into our Reason. This process con- 
sists of a sincere desire to receive it. This desire 



38 The Thinking Universe 

can best find its expression by our mentally going into 
Stillness, there holding steadily the thought upon 
which we desire enlightenment for a period suffi- 
ciently long to fix it in our Consciousness, and we 
may be sure that into our Awareness will come that 
which we ask. This spiritual nourishment does not 
come suddenly or overwhelmingly, but the operation 
of receiving it is very similar to that of breathing. 
In breathing we require an intake of fresh air that is 
frequent and continuous. In eating we require food 
less frequently, and in drawing upon the Supracon- 
sciousness, which provides the corrective, a stimulant, 
we may get along by taking it less frequently than 
we take our food, but to obtain full benefit from it we 
should call upon its Infinite Rightness every time we 
have a question that is at all difficult to solve. That 
we can and do receive this nourishment of Rightness 
is the experience of everyone who has Consciously 
tried it. All who have sought it patiently and sin- 
cerely have found it. It steals into the Consciousness, 
begins to dawn upon us, and suddenly we see new 
Light. It is this we call upon when we "stop to 
think." We really never stop to think, because we 
think always. Thinking and Living are synonymous. 
Thinking and Reasoning, however, are not synonym- 
ous. Thinking is a creative process, which begins 
when we reason that we are right and determine to 



Reason — Its Office and Power 39 

go ahead. Reasoning is the process of becoming 
Right. We may consider ourselves right when we 
are not, but at this point Reasoning ceases and Think- 
ing — action — begins. This is why it is considered so 
useless to argue with a man who "knows it air' — he 
has quit reasoning. 

It appears, then, that Reason is the Consciousness 
of Man. It has been pointed out that a Consciousness 
is an Elemental Indestructible Thing, therefore Rea- 
son, and consequently Spiritual Man, is Indestructible, 
though his body, which consists of many Combina- 
tions, is therefore a Subconsciousness and can be at 
any time dissolved. Familiarity, then, with the nour- 
ishment of our Spiritual Bodies by the intake of 
Awareness is of the highest possible importance, as 
it is upon that we will have to depend when we drop 
these temporal bodies and continue our struggle 
towards Perfection on a different plane. Neither 
must its importance on this plane be minimized, for 
by the patient practice of drawing upon our Supra- 
conscious — our Better Self — whenever we feel our 
reasoning powers sluggish or inadequate to their task, 
we may become so proficient as to arrive at correct 
conclusions when considering whatever has been, 
whatever is, or whatever is to be. 



CHAPTER III. 

Studying Infinity — Spiritual Insight 

We are worshippers rather than students of Infin- 
ity, and it is not strange that our ideas of its character- 
istics and methods are nebulous and dim. Those who 
have assumed to be the interpreters of the Expres- 
sions of Infinity that have been classified for our use 
are by no means harmonious. The Theologians who 
assert that the Will of the Infinite as regards Man is 
completely and as a finality expressed in Holy Writ- 
ings, differ amongst themselves as to what this Will 
is, but they agree that Man's proper attitude is to be 
on his knees as a suppliant worshipper rather than 
gazing squarely at the Infinite and crying out, "O 
thou Infinite, what meanest thou?" Indeed, the 
hierarchies denounce as blasphemous and sacrilegious 
all scrutiny of the Infinite Will except as revealed in 
Holy Writings, and declare all such questionings are 
not only futile, but meriting and receiving damnation 
as their only reward. Thus they exclude Reason, not 
only from their councils but from the inner workings 
of their minds, declaring that we are worms of the 
dust, and as such have no more right to raise our 



Studying Infinity — Spiritual Insight 41 

heads in questioning than has the worm to wonder 
why the sun is at times so intolerably hot. They for- 
get that Man alone of all the Expressions of Infinity 
is endowed with Reason, and that while the worm is 
given instinct by which it unerringly finds its proper 
environment, Man must use his Reason to find a suit- 
able condition, or perish. Surely the Theologians do 
not assume that Man has been gifted with something 
less godlike than other creatures, yet how else can 
they blame him for seeking to know the Infinite law 
in order that he may conform to it and escape the 
consequences of ignorance? Scientific interpreters of 
the Expressions of Infinity to be found in Nature go 
to the other extreme, and as a school deny that there 
is anything but human Reason to guide the human 
mind in its search for truth, thus excluding Infinity 
from their equations and denying the existence of 
spiritual insight, which, as is clearly shown elsewhere, 
is possessed by every human mind and to be released 
for the seeking. One thing only have these two 
classes of school men in common — that Infinity is too 
Great to be examined. Both have been estopped by 
the mathematical fact that the less cannot compre- 
hend the greater. They forget that mathematics deals 
only with quantities, not with qualities; that while we 
cannot compute the size of Infinity, we can very 
profitably examine its qualities. While Theologians 



42 Th£ Thinking Universe 

are thus appalled by Immensity, they forget that they 
become Materialists in thinking of Infinity as some- 
thing of Size and having a habitation. The moment 
we give size and space to Infinity we limit it, and it 
ceases to be Infinite. The Infinite can have no 
boundaries, for beyond those boundaries, whether we 
picture them as the outlines of a body, as a fence, a 
wall, a bank of stars, there must be something, for 
the mind cannot picture Nothing. Thus it is to be 
seen that an anthropomorphic Infinity — an Infinity 
built after the fashion of physical Man — is nothing 
better than an idol, though it is an idol that has been 
fondly cherished for many centuries. Heaven, too, 
as a locality, cannot be the residence of Infinity and 
the Blessed, as such a statement is a contradiction of 
terms, for we are all agreed that the Infinite is Omni- 
present, and being everywhere cannot be localized. 
This contradiction of terms is as evident as it would 
be to refer to a motor car going both ways at once. 
However, we are all image-makers and have become 
so habituated to thinking in terms of Time and Space 
that we become overawed, stupefied, by images of our 
own creation. This is not the condition of mind 
of a student, but of a fanatic. When we learn to look 
at spiritual things from a spiritual point of view only, 
our Reason shows us that they are images of clay 
and disappear. When we realize in its fulness in our 



Studying Infinity — Spiritual Insight 43 

image-making what the Theologians teach in its 
limited sense, that we were created or expressed as 
images of our Creator, we find supreme comfort in 
thinking of the likeness we bear to Infinity. It can- 
not be that we are the images of the Infinite in a 
bodily sense, for it is gross idolatry to think of the 
Infinite having a body like ours — personal to itself — 
an exaggeration, as it were, of one of us in bodily 
size, power, passion and goodness. If we are images 
of Infinity in any sense it is in the spiritual one. To 
find the fullest likeness, then, by induction, we must 
divest ourselves of our fleshly bodies. But before 
doing this let us consider ourselves as we are. 

All Expressed Life is intensely egoistic. Each atom, 
each combination of atoms, whether simple or com- 
plex, regards itself as the center of Life, and moved 
by the Infinite Urge works on that basis. This Ego- 
ism, then, is an Expression of Infinity, and as we can 
clearly see must characterize Infinity itself, which is 
the real center of all Life. So strongly is this devel- 
oped that every atom resists everything not itself, 
except when moved into combinations by the Infinite 
Urge, which invariably respects its own creative fiat 
and never attempts to coerce the Consciousness 
brought into being by itself. The expression of this 
Egoism is seen in the liking shown by everything for 
its own kind, thus accounting for the great masses of 



44 Th£ Thinking Universe 

air, water, earth, rock, etc. In the animal and veg- 
etable kingdoms it is the same, and in Man, the most 
complex being, it is most highly developed. We all 
like that which likes US. We like our horse, our 
dog, all our pets, because they like US. We like the 
clothing that becomes US, that is, that comes to be a 
part of US in appearance and comfort. The customer 
at a milliner's will refuse many more beautiful crea- 
tions and select one that becomes HER, thus making 
herself the center of beauty in that respect. We like 
our families because they are a part of US. We like 
our religious denomination because the people belong- 
ing to it think with US. For the same reason we 
belong to political and other societies. We like our 
nationality and our race and language because of their 
likeness to US. We do not kill and eat our fellow 
men, because they are so like US. We are kind and 
considerate to our fellow creatures and animal com- 
panions in so far as we are moved by the feeling that 
they are like US. Our judgment of beauty and 
music, sculpture, painting, architecture, landscape, 
writing, is on the basis of it pleasing US, though we 
may sometimes affect to admire that which it is the 
fashion to consider beautiful. Our family, religious, 
business, political life is on the basis of what is good 
for US. What does not appear possibly to belong 
to US or to be good for US is left out of our calcu- 



Studying Infinity — Spiritual Insight 45 

lations. There are many people so miserably situated 
that they would be willing to exchange conditions 
with almost anybody else, but if we tried to think of 
anyone who would accept this change at the cost of 
the loss of his or her identity we would fail. If the beg- 
gar were offered the millions of the magnate on condi- 
tion that he would cease to be himself and become the 
magnate, he would refuse, saying, "What good would 
that be to ME? It would be the end of ME." It is 
doubtful, if the most devout and orthodox Christian 
were to be offered a traditional seat under the tradi- 
tional Tree of Life near the traditional Great White 
Throne at once, on condition that he drop his iden- 
tity and become an angel, whether he would not re- 
fuse, preferring rather to stay Here a little longer 
and take his chances of getting There on some other 
terms. It is thus seen that Egoism is an Infinite 
impulse, and must govern us in studying Infinity. It 
accounts for the universal worship, in some form, of 
Infinity. Man has always felt in a more or less vague 
way that he was a part of Infinity and Infinity was a 
part of him. What part, and how this part was 
related to Infinity, he has seemed to be unable to 
discover except by special revelation. That these 
revelations, vague as they may have been in their 
character, indistinct as they may have been in their 
outline and detail, have come to him through various 



46 The Thinking Universe 

gifted men, cannot be denied, nor can these revela- 
tions be overlooked in a study such as this. It must 
be remembered, however, that all such revelations 
have and can come only through the ordinary channel 
of Reason, in pursuance of a changeless scheme ; we 
can only judge of their fulness and finality by the 
perfection of their workings ; if they have not 
brought about that which seems to be their purpose we 
must consider them incomplete, misunderstood, or 
faulty. Nor are we to be confined as to what are 
the revelations, or as to who has done the revealing, 
to the sacred writings and writers canonized by the 
various hierarchies as such. By Reason alone can we 
judge of the value of anything, and as Reason has 
been shown to be the highest expression of Infinity it 
surely must be a safe court in which to try every- 
thing. 

Now let us proceed on the basis of Universal Ego- 
ism to compare ourselves as spiritual beings with 
Infinity. Divested of our fleshly bodies we are re- 
moved from the at present unceasing task of keeping 
them nourished, warmed, sheltered and clad. The 
grinding struggle of providing these things is ap- 
parently the principal source of the evils which beset 
mankind. If we were freed from this struggle on 
this plane, what would we do ? If it were not for the 
Infinite Urge we would probably all lie down and 



Studying Infinity — Spiritual Insight 47 

go to sleep. It is certain that on the next plane of 
our progress we shall be relieved of the necessity of 
maintaining fleshly bodies which shall have disappeared. 
What we shall do as we keep up the struggle for Per- 
fection is the subject of speculation in a later chapter. 
Here it is only necessary to consider what we shall 
be. This can be arrived at by considering what will 
remain after our fleshly bodies have been abandoned. 
We shall still have the spiritual body, of which our 
earthly body was only the Expression to afford us 
contact with the things of Time and Space as mani- 
fested Here and Now. That Time and Space will 
disappear after we abandon our earthly bodies is a 
popular misconception. Our spiritual bodies are of 
Constricted Life, and though less dense must occupy 
Space and have dimensions, and where Space exists 
there Time must be. That our spiritual bodies are 
any different in size or shape from our earthly bodies 
cannot be shown. Any body we possess is to us what 
our Consciousness considers it. As on this plane a 
man cannot be conscious of being tall when he knows 
himself to be short, or fat when everyone as well as 
himself knows he is lean, so the Consciousness which 
expressed itself in the body we have here will express 
the same identity in the spiritual body. Admitting 
that the spiritual body has size and shape, as it must 
to retain the identity fixed in its Consciousness, we 



48 The Thinking Universe 

find ourselves inhabiting Space exactly as we do now, 
except without earthly bodies or the necessity of sus- 
taining them. It must be so, in order to avoid the 
violation of the creative fiat of Egoism. In view of 
this, it must be seen that any comparison we make of 
ourselves with Infinity must contain the Egoism of 
our size and shape, and that the Infinite to US and 
for US must have that size and shape, and when we 
scrutinize this we find that it is only as it should be. 
All the Infinite we can conceive for us is that which 
is within us. Our Consciousness must always be the 
size and quality of our Infinity to us. The perfection 
we can conceive, as with the most perfect environ- 
ment we can arrive at, is our highest ideal of Perfec- 
tion, and in projecting this ideal as our conception of 
the qualities of Infinity we are projecting all that is 
or can be in us. We cannot do more. If we do less 
we are presuming that Infinity is not as good as we 
might be if in its place. How good can we conceive 
ourselves to be? If situated as Infinity is, possessed 
of all things, we would be without avarice, envy, 
jealousy, or fear. Having arrived at conscious Per- 
fection we would be ambitious to go no higher. Pos- 
sessing all knowledge, we could desire to know no 
more. The Infinite Urge to Rightness will make us 
love everything, hate nothing, eager only that every- 
thing, everybody, be equally perfect and happy. This 



Studying Infinity — Spiritual Insight 49 

certainly cannot be considered a debased ideal of 
Infinity, as it is the best that can possibly exist in the 
best as well as the worst of us. It brings Infinity 
nearer to us, as it shows that we may and shall be 
infinitely good, never perhaps on this experiential 
plane, but certainly upon that plane to which our 
Infinitely Urged progress is taking us. Thus, con- 
sider it from what point we may, Man's ideal of the 
qualities of Infinity are those of his perfect self. So 
it is through all the Thinking Universe, each Con- 
sciousness obeying the laws of Infinity as the laws of 
its Perfect Self. Man alone reasons and must find 
his own Rightness. Until he finds this perfect Right- 
ness he will not be perfectly happy; i. e., he will not 
be in harmony with his environment. Examining his 
progress by the light afforded us by history and 
science, we find how greatly Reason has widened his 
horizon. In his conception of Infinity, consider how 
far we have traveled from the Israelitish ideal ! To 
the Hebrews the Infinite was their God and the God 
of nobody and nothing else. This was the narrow 
Egoism of all the peoples of the world at the time. 
It found voice in the prophets, who, speaking for 
Jehovah, cried, "I am the Lord thy God. There is no 
other God before me. I am a jealous God." Now it 
is dawning that the God, the Good, the Infinite, of 
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, enlarged twenty centuries 



50 Th£ Thinking Universe 

ago to be the God, the Good, the Infinite of the Gen- 
tiles as well, has again enlarged to be the God, the 
Good, the Infinite, the Father of everybody, of every- 
thing that is, the Mind of the Thinking Universe. 

It is here we find ourselves thus early in this study: 
In quality the Infinite is our perfect selves. In quan- 
tity — we must think of numbers in terms of Time and 
Space — Infinity can be and is countless billions of 
billions of perfect selves of every species, class, and 
variety. Insomuch as the Infinite is Omnipresent it 
is everywhere, always in everything, and in everything 
is that thing's ideal of Perfection. Now let us turn 
to an examination of the wonders of its workings. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Infinite Life and the Beginning of Its 
Expressions 

The origin of Life does not concern us, as we can- 
not know of it. The human mind cannot conceive of 
the condition of Nothingness, which must have pre- 
ceded Life if anything could have preceded it. We 
must all instantly admit that nothing appears in re- 
sponse to our mental search for anything that could 
have been prior to Life, Mind. It is not within us. 
But Infinity is within us, and therefore we must rea- 
son that knowledge of its origin is not within Infinity 
itself, that it did not begin, that it has always been. 
The same line of reasoning leads us to the conclusion 
that it cannot and will not end, that it always will be. 
Speculations, therefore, with regard to the origin of 
Life must always be fruitless except in weakening the 
mind that attempts them. Though our minds cannot 
grasp a condition of nothingness, they can grasp a 
condition when there was only one thing — Life, Mind. 
Accepting this condition as our first possible premise, 
let us examine it before proceeding to find the minor 
premise. It is well described by the Hebrew seer as 



52 Ths Thinking Universe 

the universe "without form and without void/' that is, 
nothing had taken shape, yet there was no emptiness, 
Mind being All of it, Everywhere. It was, as it is, 
Indivisible, for there was nothing to divide, there 
being no dimensions, as there cannot be where there 
is no Thing. It was, as it is, Immobile, there being 
no place for it to go. It was its own Positive, its 
own Negative, the Absolute. We can conceive of no 
Mind desiring to be Alone. We know of no Mind so 
great that it does not desire companionship. To pro- 
cure this companionship Infinite Mind expressed it- 
self, exactly how or when we are not sufficiently 
developed to find out. Our Reason, seeking the first 
Expression and founding our judgment upon the 
necessities of the case, concludes that Life, acting and 
re-acting within its Positive and Negative self, pro- 
duced motion controlled by the Positive, by these 
vibrations of varying degrees of velocity forming 
constrictions or vortices of its Negative self, and 
these constrictions, dense or volatile according to their 
vibrations, constituted what we designate as "Matter." 
Science teaches us that these Expressions were made 
in their simplest form, and are known as Elemental 
Atoms, between eighty and ninety of which have been 
discovered by research. This theory of the original 
Expression appears reasonable. By beginning with 
the protoplasm, Infinite Mind has been continuously 



Infinite Life — Beginning of its Expressions 53 

occupied and interested by Development, as it would 
not have been had everything at once made its ap- 
pearance in its most perfect form. It thus appears 
that from the conditions we find today, Expressed 
Things are the Negative side of Infinite Life, as they 
are all in motion. Impelled by the Infinite Urge, 
every elemental atom is seeking perfection by effect- 
ing combinations, these combinations seeking further 
combinations, and these combinations seeking still 
further complexity of Expression. The movements 
of these atoms in continually readjusting themselves 
cause what we designate vibrations. As has already 
been pointed out, the presence within Infinite Life of 
things having dimensions introduced the element of 
Space, which is not infinite, but the relativity of one 
object to another. The movement of these things in 
their readjustments introduced the element of Time, 
which is but our method of reckoning the number of 
vibrations necessary to convey a thing from one local- 
ity to another. So long as Expressed Life remains 
in existence, Time and Space must be, though our 
conceptions will always be relative to the number of 
vibrations they require in their movements. Thus 
when the bodies we possess become finer in our devel- 
opment we shall move with the velocity of thought, 
though we shall never be able to escape entirely from 
our consciousness of being a thing with dimensions. 



54 Th£ Thinking Univsrss 

Indeed, we never will desire this, for it would mean 
the loss of our identity. 

The points you are desired to hold as established 
until further evidence is adduced are these :' 

That Infinite Mind is Positive, Immobile, Indivisi- 
ble, the Absolute ; 

That Expressed Mind is Negative, and controlled 
by the Positive. It is composed of the Elemental 
Consciousnesses, which are Indestructible. The Sub- 
consciousnesses into which these elemental atoms are 
formed by combinations are temporary, being formed 
and dissolved by the Infinite Urge to progress and 
development ; 

That all things are, always have been, and always 
will be — Mind, the only Creative Element. 

The last point, that everything is Mind, may as 
well be finally dealt with at once. When Mind was 
alone there could have been nothing else. In its 
creative or expressional efforts it had nothing but 
Itself as material, no tool but Motion. Since then 
nothing has been imported into Life, as there is no- 
where to bring it from, Life being everywhere and 
everything always. Therefore everything has con- 
tinued to be, and is now, Life, Mind ; in various 
degrees of activity, it is true. These various degrees 
of activity in themselves are Mind, directed by Mind, 



Infinite Life — Beginning of its Expressions 55 

never under any circumstances or conditions becoming 
anything but Mind, always acting and re-acting as 
Mind. 

This is becoming quite generally recognized by 
scientists, who in their researches by inductive rea- 
soning reach the same conclusion — that everything is 
Mind. These scientists have found some eighty or 
ninety elementary consciousnesses in the world, which 
by their various partnerships and combinations have 
formed themselves into the varied Expressions of Life 
we see about us. They have traced some of these 
atoms, these consciousnesses, far beyond the range of 
vision, to where they measure one fifty-millionth part 
of an inch in diameter, and can have an existence as 
entities only in our mind. No scientist has yet at- 
tempted to weigh or measure the atoms of which 
Mind is composed, and it may be reasonably con- 
cluded that there are no such atoms, Infinite Life 
being indivisible, and that the so-called material atoms 
finally disappear into the essence of Thought, of 
Mind. It is here contended that when the point is 
arrived at that the atom has its sole entity in the 
mind it becomes a Mind atom, and therefore can by no 
one be considered as anything but Mind. To hesitate 
further in calling everything Mind and assuming Mind 
to be the only creative element would seem to be 
merely materialistic and scientific pedantry. 



56 The Thinking Universe 

It being admitted that everything is Mind, Positive 
or Negative, it follows that Unexpressed Mind, the 
Mind that did the expressing, is Positive, as the Posi- 
tive is superior to the Negative as the Expressor is 
superior to the Expression. As the Positive it must 
be in a state of Equilibrium. Indeed, it is impossible 
to conceive of that which is Everything, Everywhere, 
Always, moving when it has no place in which to 
move. This must be apparent to the dullest sense. 
When we survey the heavens and the earth every- 
thing appears in a state of majestic stillness, Poise. 
The idea of perpetually being on the move conveys 
a repellent sense of fussiness to our conception of the 
Supreme, Superb control of the Infinite. Science 
confirms this view of Life, even while affirming that 
All Life is motion. It is known that the center of the 
cyclone is perfectly still, the Point of Poise, the Infi- 
nite. The absolute center of the huge driving wheel 
is perfectly still ; though microscopic in its dimen- 
sions it, too, is the Point of Poise from which power 
radiates. 

Writers and teachers on Dynamics are careful to 
show that when motion, when started from a given 
point, is deflected, the point of its deflection may in a 
diagram be indicated by a dot of pencil or ink as 
showing the instant of time that the deflection takes 
place. But this "instant of time" is not an "interval 



Infinite Life — Beginning of its Expressions 57 

of time," being miscroscopic in its so-called dimen- 
sions; that is, when a ball thrown in a certain direc- 
tion is struck by a bat and deflected, the instant of 
time during which the deflection takes place is not 
computable, no interval of time that can be detected 
taking place. Thus it is seen that when the power 
propelling the ball in one direction is changed to a 
power propelling it in a different direction, a moment 
of stillness takes place, even though it is indistin- 
guishable as an interval of time. 

Infinite Life being Omnipresent, it is everywhere 
the center of all movement. If it were not so, the 
Universe, in popular phrase, would "go to smash." 
Infinite Life, then, does not act; it causes and con- 
trols action ; it is the Ultimate Cause. This attitude 
is the secret of power. In Man this equilibrium, this 
faculty of causing and organizing action, is what 
makes him powerful. As will be seen later on, his 
organization is a duplication on a small scale of the 
organization of the Universe, spiritual Man being the 
Positive and his so-called more material expressions 
the Negative. The man who always finds his bal- 
ance, his poise, before he attempts to act, is the 
strong man. 

Following the same line of reasoning we find Nega- 
tive Life, Expressed Life, doing absolutely what it was 
expressed to do, Man alone apparently being the ex- 



58 The Thinking Universe 

ception, he alone having the gift of Reason, the 
faculty of finding his own Rightness. Expressed 
Life is a pure democracy, a Government by the con- 
sent of the Governed; it being Mind, it Thinks and 
has a Will, but it always Thinks and Wills as it was 
intended by Positive Life that it should Think and 
Will, except in Reasoning Man. We find this in its 
instant obedience to all the physical laws that science 
has discovered. The stone thrown into the air drops 
to the ground in obedience not only to the will of the 
governor, but of the governed. 

Let us always bear as distinctly and strongly in 
mind as possible that Infinite Life is motionless, 
while causing all motion; that it is without substance, 
consistency, while causing all so-called substance; 
that while being of no substance it is indivisible, that 
is, incapable of being divided into segments; that so- 
called substances pass through Infinite Life without 
the slightest resistance. As it is of primary import- 
ance that you should be clear on this point, let us 
illustrate it. You pass a large tube open at both 
ends through water, and it meets with slight resist- 
ance, the water passing in and through the tube and 
out of the other end of it without obstruction. All 
the resistance found is that caused by the substance 
of the tube itself displacing a small amount of water. 
A ton of steel passing through Infinite Life would not 



Infinite; Life — Beginning of its Expressions 59 

cause the slightest displacement, as the Infinite Life 
would occupy the steel as easily and completely as 
if the space apparently taken up by the steel were 
empty. The importance of this point is that the 
reader shall at no time be misled by the thought that 
he or she contains and carries about with him or her 
a segment of Infinite Life. No matter where you go, 
the body you are conscious of is always filled with 
Infinite Life, but as you move about it remains where 
it was when it was in you, but you are still and 
always full of Infinite Life. It is Expressed Life 
which you carry about with you and is especially 
yours, though the Infinite Life in you is yours, and is 
the Infinite YOU. It may seem to you that you are 
continually changing the Infinite Life within you as 
you move about. It would be so if it were a sub- 
stance, but as it is not a substance you cannot speak 
of the Infinite Life that is in you at this moment as 
being different from the Infinite Life that was in you 
when you were a mile away, as everywhere and 
always Infinite Life is absolutely the same. Your 
corpse will be as full of Infinite Life as your healthy 
body now is, urging the disintegration of the useless 
tissue as it urged through your Expressed Life your 
operative tissue to perfect action. While your corpse 
is still filled with Infinite Life, your unsensuous, or 
spirit, body which has moved away from its earthly 



60 The Thinking Universe 

tenement will be just as full of Infinite Life as was 
your former sensuous body, and it will be just as 
much you, the Infinite you, as it was the Infinite you 
when you were in the flesh. In following this 
thought do not lose the identity of your perfect 
spiritual body — the Infinite Life within you. It is the 
real YOU, and is constricted in its operations in con- 
nection with you by your Consciousness as much as 
if it had always been a segment of Infinite Life — if 
such a thing were possible — and had always existed in 
you as you. By this you will understand that the 
Infinite Life within you, your perfect spiritual body, 
only affects you as it is called upon by your Conscious- 
ness, your Reason. That the Infinite Life in your 
corpse works disintegration and decay instead of urg- 
ing it to upbuilding and progress, is because your 
Consciousness and Subconsciousness have removed 
themselves from the disused body and no longer direct 
the working of the Infinite Life within it, and the 
Infinite Life proceeds with the residue, the corpse, as 
if you had never lived in it. This is in pursuance of 
the unchangeable order of things, that combinations 
called Subconsciousnesses are subject to disintegration 
in order that the so-called material of which they are 
composed can be freed for the nourishment of other 
Expressions which have not become morbid. 



CHAPTER V. 

Positive: and Negative: Life — Power and Its 
Expressions 

There cannot be two Infinites — if there were, one 
would be greater than the other, or they would be 
equal. If one were less than the other, the lesser one 
could not be Infinite, because it could not control the 
greater. If two were equal, neither could be Infinite 
if one could not control the other. Why, then, some 
may ask, speak of Positive and Negative Life? What 
we cannot consider in terms of Time and Space can- 
not be considered. We have already thought of Life 
having been Alone, of its possession of everything, in- 
cluding Positive and Negative qualities, then Unex- 
pressed. Until Expressed neither of these qualities 
had a name, as neither existed separate from the 
other. How Life polarized itself and expressed its 
Negative quality must remain in the same shroud of 
mystery as the origin of Life itself. That it did so is 
evident, or there would have been nothing, and con- 
sequently nothing would have been Positive, nothing 
Negative, in this so-called material world. As every- 
thing has its Positive and Negative, we know that 



62 Th^ Thinking Universe 

such an Expression was made. In order not to con- 
fuse ourselves in considering the subject, we adhere 
to the nomenclature in ordinary use in discussing the 
two extremes, calling Expressed Life the Negative, and 
Unexpressed Life the Positive. They are in no sense 
both Infinite, Positive Life indisputably dominating 
the Negative ; therefore we are in the presence of the 
Infinite and its First Expression. In considering the 
question of Power and its origin we may as well in 
advance meet a similar objection which may occur to 
minds given to superfine criticism. Life, being Infi- 
nite, can have no dimensions, and that without dimen- 
sions cannot have extremes. The Positive and Nega- 
tive poles are extremes, therefore Life cannot have 
extremes and cannot have poles. This would appear 
to be an unanswerable argument if mathematics could 
be applied to the qualities as well as to the extent of 
Life. We know that Infinite Life has no dimensions, 
but we Know that it has the qualities out of which 
things of dimensions arose ; therefore we must con- 
sider it, if we consider it at all, as always possessing 
the Extremes — the poles — necessary to the expression 
of Power. 

Power is not Infinite, but an expression of the Infi- 
nite. Faving its origin in the Infinite, it of course 
always proceeds from and is directed by the Law, the 
Urge, of the Infinite. In other words, power must 



Positive and Negative Life 63 

radiate as Motion, from a center of Stillness. As it 
would be absurd to try to think of a thing going in 
two directions at once, and as there is no universal 
sameness of motion as to direction, therefore there 
must always be a point separating motion in one direc- 
tion from motion in a different direction on the same 
line and the same plane. This center is Stillness — 
the Infinite. When two bodies in motion on the same 
line and the same plane meet, there is a demonstra- 
tion of power. For instance, when a baseball thrown 
through the air is struck by a bat a demonstration is 
made, and which was Positive power is shown by 
Appearances. The ball deflects, or flies back towards 
the sender, and Appearances show that the demon- 
stration has proved the power in the bat to be Positive 
and that in the ball to be Negative. Should the 
metallic ball projected by a heavily charged piece of 
artillery strike the bat, it would demonstrate that it 
was propelled by Positive power. The elaboration of 
this point will find its place in the chapters on Mental 
Healing, where it will be shown that the human mind 
made Positive by Rightness can project itself to a 
point of lesion in the human body and cause a demon- 
stration such as the projecting mind desires, the 
demonstration being instantly and completely as de- 
sired, or slowly and incompletely accomplished, ac- 
cording to the Positivity of the mind projecting the 



64 Ths Thinking Universe 

thought. All thoughts are things, all things are 
thoughts, made "material" by the application of power. 
The painter's picture is a Thing in his mind before it 
is put upon the canvas, and its perfection as a painting 
depends upon the power he puts into it — the power of 
conception and execution. Electricity, subtle as it is, 
is tangible and can be used as an illustration of the 
operations of Mind Force. At one time electric 
phenomena were regarded with awe and terror because 
the meaning and uses of electricity were not under- 
stood. It is not so very long ago that thunder and 
lightning were generally considered as the threatening 
voice and enraged glance of Deity. By no means the 
smallest benefit conferred upon humanity by scientific 
research has been the removal of the superstition that 
"He plants His footsteps in the sea and rides upon the 
storm." Perhaps emancipation from the thraldom of 
the superstition that the Infinite spoke to Man in the 
thunders of Sinai and manifested His anger by 
cyclones and electric disturbances has been an even 
greater benefit to humanity than the harnessing of 
electricity to light our homes and streets, convey mes- 
sages instantly and afar, and propel our carriages and 
turn the wheels of our factories. Indeed, this mental 
release from the terrifying bondage seems on further 
scrutiny to be inestimably more worthy than the addi- 
tion to our physical illumination and improvement in 



Positive and Negative Life 65 

communication. Now no one knows what electricity 
really is, yet it is one of the elusive things that are ev- 
ery day being made more completely subservient to the 
uses of Man. How ? Through Reason made Positive 
by Rightness. In other words, we are becoming wise, 
that is, Right, on the subject of electricity. In our 
homes we touch a button and instantly the room is 
flooded with light. The cleaner comes in, attaches a 
cord to the lighting apparatus, turns on the current, 
and the "juice," which would have become light in 
the bulb, passing through this cord and the transmuter 
of the vacuum machine, expresses its power in motion. 
We talk into the transmitter of the telephone; the 
sound is "changed" by our thought, expressed as a 
transformer — a mechanical device — into electricity, 
conveyed to a distant place, "changed" by another 
transformer into sound, and our voice is heard by a 
friend miles away. All these electrical utilities are 
thoughts, "materialized" by the inventor, and few take 
the pains even to try to understand them, to say 
nothing of concentrating their attention upon the fact 
that they are "nothing but thoughts." Wireless tele- 
graphy relies still less on mechanical devices and con- 
nections, telepathy not at all, and it should seem evi- 
dent to the thoughtful that we are approaching the 
time when by a scientific knowledge of ourselves we 



66 Th£ Thinking Universe 

may render more fully operative within us the still 
more subtle forces of Life itself, thereby increasing 
our health and happiness according to the limit of 
what we know. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Negative Life — The Development of 
Subconsciousnesses. 

Scientists have demonstrated that the expressions of 
Life we see about us have developed from the sim- 
plest possible beginning. Animal life, beginning with 
but one cell, has become complex to the extent of a 
million or more cells in one organization — the proto- 
plasm existing in slime, perhaps a million years ago, 
is now the splendid horse or the still more perfect 
man. Wonderful as this change may seem to us, the 
way it came about seems on examination to be simple 
enough outside of the Infinite Urge to Rightness, 
which was of course the Cause of it all. Constructing 
a building is simple to the competent architect who 
has the workmen and materials at his disposal. In 
his calculations he, as Nature does, begins with a unit. 
The atom is evidently the Creative Unit. Let us 
take this on the principle of mathematics, in which 
the numeral "one" is the basis of all calculations. Put 
another "one" alongside of it and what do you call 
it? Not "two ones," but "eleven." If you place one 
numeral under the other with the idea of simple addi- 



68 Ths Thinking Universe 

tion, you call the result "two." It will be seen that 
the placing of an additional unit in a certain position 
doubles the power of the original unit, while in 
another it multiplies it by ten plus its original self. 
In this way we see that the original unit holds its 
identity, while the addition of each unit not only 
multiplies the original one, but changes its appear- 
ance, power and name. We add another unit and it 
becomes "one hundred and eleven." We add one 
beneath the other two and it becomes "three," each 
obeying the law of the ratio of increase. Add another 
unit still and it becomes "one thousand one hundred 
and eleven," more complex, more ponderous. Of 
course how much complexity or ponderosity an atom 
obtained but four removes from a point where it 
became Negative Life, what has been called an ap- 
parent atom, i. e., taken on the capacity of becoming 
a distinguishable atom, does not greatly concern us. 
It may have taken a million moves before it became 
large enough to be examined by a microscope, had 
one existed at that time. What we most desire to 
know is something of the plan, and it brings almost 
a sense of relief to find our simple mathematics so 
representative of the progress conceivable. Indeed, 
mathematics, being an exact science, must necessarily 
be found to express everything with regard to dimen- 
sions and construction. In the same manner music is 



Negative; Lifs 69 

the science of harmony. The size of the notes, their 
place in relation to the staff, the number of sharps 
and flats — all these things express the arrangement 
and power of sounds. In our use of the twenty-six 
letters of the alphabet what wonders can be accom- 
plished! By their means everything known to any 
human consciousness can be expressed. By means of 
the atom Infinity has expressed Life as we see it ex- 
pressed. To the student of Nature everything is 
wondrously beautiful, but he regards nothing as a 
miracle; he has watched the progress of things until 
he has come to an understanding that everything is 
governed by Law, and what has been will be again 
under similar circumstances, and that with improved 
environment what has been will be still more beau- 
tiful. 

A discussion of how many removes the tadpole may 
have been from the protoplasm may interest the 
scientific specialist, but it has no place here. Nor 
does it greatly matter how long it took the tadpole to 
acquire a subconsciousness of sufficient cells to appear 
as a frog, a fish, a bird, a horse, or a man. The 
average person is mostly concerned about himself, as 
he is or as he may become. Before passing to this, 
however, it is necessary to reiterate that the original 
atoms of the Universe being the fiat of Infinite Mind, 
as such became eternal. How many varieties of these 



70 The Thinking Universe 

there are does not affect the principle being demon- 
strated, The researchers in the laboratories may re- 
duce the number now known by half, or to a very 
few — or may increase the number — the principle of 
the atom being the unit of the so-called material 
universe remains the same. Combinations of them, 
however, became Subconsciousnesses, and as such can 
be disintegrated, and are continually in a state of dis- 
integration, and are being re-assembled in different 
forms. Just as "one thousand one hundred and 
eleven" is a Subconsciousness of the unit "one" and 
can be wiped from the slate without any damage to 
the unit expressed by "one," so all Subconsciousnesses 
can appear and disappear according to the law of the 
Infinite Urge which uses them for expression. A 
Consciousness is a purely selfish thing, and a Subcon- 
sciousness is the same. A Consciousness may be 
defined as something which knows what it is and is to 
itself the center of Life. It exists for itself alone. 
It combines with that for which it has an affinity, and 
repels that which it dislikes. In. each Consciousness 
or Subconsciousness there is a Supraconsciousness. 
This consists of the Infinite Life, which, being Omni- 
present, fills to its fulness each atom or combination 
of atoms. While it fills everything it displaces noth- 
ing, and is within that atom or combination of atoms 
a continuous Urge to Rightness, and the response of 



Negative Life 71 

each atom or combination of atoms to this Urge is 
their obedience to what we know as Physical Laws. 
By their obedience to these Physical Laws combina- 
tions of atoms — Subconsciousnesses — have reached 
their present high development. As an illustration 
let us picture the primitive hen developing her legs as 
a means of locomotion in search of insect and veg- 
etable life on the surface of the ground. As worms 
escaped her by going into the loose soil, she tried to 
stop their progress by the use of her rudimentary feet, 
then began to try to remove the earth covering the 
worms so as to reach them. In this way she devel- 
oped her claws, and in boring for the worms, her 
beak. In struggling to a place of safety from de- 
structive animals on the surface she developed her 
wings, and as protection against the weather evolved 
her feathers. Necessity in every case was the origin 
of her efforts, and the Infinite Urge caused her to 
make the efforts and in the right direction. 

The wisdom and diligence of those who formulated 
the doctrine of Evolution are being every day more 
highly prized. In showing Man the wondrous pro- 
gress he has made during the many centuries since 
the period the fossils of which prove his prehistoric 
ancestors to have been cave-dwellers, a strong light 
has been thrown upon the possibilities of his still fur- 
ther advancement. His physical progress has been 



72 The Thinking Universe 

that of the highest-grade animal. His intellectual 
development made it manifest to himself that he had 
something within him superior to the qualities of 
other animals. This quality he appreciated to be a 
capacity to judge for himself — that he was capable of 
Reasoning. When or how he made this discovery is 
not nearly so important as a full appreciation of the 
faculty itself. According to the Biblical account, 
Adam and Eve obtained their knowledge of the dif- 
ference between Good and Evil by eating of a fruit in 
the Garden of Eden, having been tempted to do so by 
a serpent. There are many things about this story 
which discredit it. Apparently Adam and Eve had 
been newly "created," and were without experience of 
any kind except such as they had acquired in their 
nude wanderings through the Garden of Eden. That 
such full-grown beings, so badly equipped for life's 
conflicts, were ever launched into a contest so un- 
equal, is incredible. Their arrival on the scene as 
adults is opposed to every known law of progress and 
development. That the Evil One, disguised as a ser- 
pent, tempted them, is preposterous. A snake was 
never known to talk, before nor since. Satan's pres- 
ence there must have been known to the Infinite and 
the result of his argument anticipated. If so, the Infi- 
nite participated in the burlesque of tempting creatures 
that did not know the difference between Right and 



Negative Li$t 73 

Wrong, to commit Wrong. What is worse, he is 
described as sentencing not only Adam and Eve, but 
all their descendants, to hard labor and other pains 
and penalties during life, which would be closed by 
death. The appearance of the Infinite in the garden 
in the form of a man and mistaken by Adam as the 
gardener (what did Adam know about gardeners?) 
is all terribly out of joint with the character of the 
Infinite as we have so far observed It. Yet what 
could we expect of the Hebrew writers who at differ- 
ent periods compiled the story of Genesis ? It was the 
picture that came to them of Man's advent into this 
world. Vague and misleading as the picture is, it is 
one that we cannot pass over as entirely unworthy of 
attention. The Hebrew prophets, poets and historians 
were feeling feebly in the dimness of the times to 
find whence they came. They found something, as do 
all who seek, but the assumption that they found it all 
is as ridiculous as that Franklin discovered everything 
about electricity while flying his kite. What these 
seers evidently thought they found was Man thor- 
oughly developed as an animal suddenly coming into 
the possession of REASON. As light has been con- 
tinually breaking upon us for these many centuries, 
this picture cannot be entirely ignored. Did Man 
come into the possession of Reason in his physical 
prime, or did Reason develop in the ratio of his physi- 



74 The Thinking Universe 

cal progress? Now Reason is the Consciousness of 
being a Man, and of somehow knowing the way to be 
the best Man. A Man, conscious of being a Man, 
could never have been conscious of being anything 
else, for Consciousnesses are not interchangeable as to 
species. The ape, having a Consciousness of his 
species, could not by any psychological somersault 
suddenly become conscious of being a man. If there 
has ever been anything nearer like a man than an ape, 
he must either have been a man or not one. If he 
was a man he had Reason, and he could not have had 
it except he got it from someone who had it, unless 
he were suddenly endowed with it by Infinity as a 
creative afterthought, so to speak. Such a thing 
would be entirely out of harmony with the progress- 
ive plan of development and could not, of course, be 
the result of eating a particular kind of fruit. But 
speaking of him as a man before he had Reason — a 
knowledge of Right and Wrong — is a contradiction 
of terms, for Reason itself is what constitutes a Man. 
It would be just as absurd, if such a thing were con- 
ceivable, to speak of a dog which had been miracul- 
ously endowed with Reason and thereby given the 
status of a man, as having been a man before he 
received this endowment. It is inconceivable that 
Man was Expressed at all if not, on this experiential 
plane, to seek for a RIGHTNESS OF HIS OWN 



Negative Life 75 

FINDING, and how could he seek for this if not 
possessed of Reason? It therefore seems that the 
impossibility of the Consciousness without Reason 
being instantly changed into a Consciousness with Rea- 
son proves that Reason has been inherent in Alan 
during his entire evolution as an animal. This is also 
borne out by the fact that Man was so evidently de- 
signed at some period and on some plane to reach 
perfection by means of his Reason, that that supreme 
quality must have been always in his composition, 
otherwise all the time spent in his development as an 
animal on this experiential plane was wasted, and 
Infinity knows no waste. 

We are dealing here mainly with the development 
of the human Subconsciousness, and have been led 
into the above dissertation as to the point in Man's 
development when this Subconsciousness began to be 
affected by his Reason. Having decided that Reason 
has always affected his development, let us return to 
the main topic. The Subconscious is man's Memory 
Life, built up of the repetitional — what is ordinarily 
known as habit. These habits are acquired, as all 
animals acquire them, except that the reasoning power 
of Alan has, through his use of it and the use made of 
it by his ancestors, tended to make his Subconscious- 
ness a somewhat more complex thing than that pos- 
sessed by other animals. It may as well be noted 



76 The Thinking Universe 

here that the human Subconsciousness does not rea- 
son, though it is affected by Reason. This statement 
may be at variance with the opinions expressed by 
writers who affirm that the Subconsciousness is cap- 
able of reasoning deductively, though not inductively, 
but it is nevertheless correct. The scientists referred 
to have found that subjects in a state of hypnosis 
when given a suggestion will reason from a premise 
assumed to a logical conclusion, but are incapable of 
anything but deductive reasoning. This is not reason- 
ing, but the consecutive following of a principle 
through its workings. All Life does this. As has 
been shown, all Life has a Supraconsciousness as well 
as a Consciousness if it be an elemental atom, or a 
Supraconsciousness and a Subconsciousness if it be a 
combination of atoms. The Supraconsciousness is the 
Omnipresent, the Infinite Life, which directs the 
movements of the Conscious or Subconscious, and is 
always Right. This Unreasoning Life pursues an un- 
varying course of Rightness. The human Subcon- 
sciousness is disturbed in this automatic pursuit of 
Rightness by Reason. In hypnosis it is noticeable 
that the subject under the influence of another's Con- 
sciousness may be given the most absurd proposition 
as its premise of rightness, and he will carry the argu- 
ment to its conclusion with all the gravity and pro- 
fundity of something reasonable. This is because the 



NEGATIVE LlF£ 11 

Subconsciousness has been interfered with in its auto- 
matic pursuit of Rightness, by the suggestion of a 
wrong principle, which it seizes upon and follows 
with the same avidity as it always follows what it 
esteems to be Rightness, no matter how that sense of 
Rightness is acquired, whether by memory or the 
suggestion of Reason. This is not reasoning, but 
being influenced by Reason, which is clearly an asso- 
ciate-Consciousness, not a component part of the 
human Subconsciousness. The human Subconscious- 
ness thinks, as all Mind thinks, and, thinking, acts. 

The illustration furnished by hypnosis, that the 
Subconsciousness is not only affected by Reason but 
is equally affected by wrong reasoning as by right 
reasoning, makes it clear to us how the wrong reason- 
ing of ourselves and our ancestry has affected, and is 
affecting, our Subconsciousnesses. If it were not for 
this faulty reasoning the human race would be as 
automatically and generally healthy as other species 
of animals. Conversely, it seems distinctly to show 
that Right Reasoning would give us an immunity 
from even that proportion of sickness that comes to 
animals as the result of environment and the law of 
decadence. 

Upon our Subconsciousnesses we rely for what we 
call the automatic functioning of our bodies, the work- 
ings of all our organs, the movements of our limbs, 



78 The Thinking Universe 

the distribution of the nutritive fluids, our respiration, 
the winking of our eyes, and all that sort of thing. 
The normal person is not conscious of normal bodily 
functioning — it is all done subconsciously. It is the 
result of thousands of generations of habit, moved by 
the Infinite Urge to Rightness. No sane person en- 
deavors to change this normal functioning for the 
worse, but it often is changed by the exercise of Rea- 
son. Those desiring to become accomplished practice 
playing the piano until their fingers become so skilled 
in manipulating the keys that exquisite harmonies are 
the result. This is Reason interfering with the Sub- 
conscious and giving it the habit of functioning the 
fingers almost automatically in response to the thought. 
Skill in everything is produced in the same way. 
Good manners, good habits of walking, standing, 
speaking, and so forth, are all the product of repeti- 
tion. Many people go through the routine of their 
work so entirely subconsciously that when they begin 
to reason, that is, think what they will do next, they 
can scarcely remember what they have been doing. 
When people are awkward we say that they are "self- 
conscious," which is simply that they are trying to 
reason and to act at the same time, instead of acting 
subconsciously. Thinking and acting follow one an- 
other so closely that the place between them is not 
distinguishable. Indeed, acting is but the physical 



Negative Life 79 

expression of thinking, the working of what we call 
the motor portion of our brain. Remembering and 
acting do not harmonize, and when attempted cause 
those who have forgotten the way to pause and look 
about them before going forward. As a matter of 
fact, one cannot act intelligently while trying to re- 
member; neither can one reason and remember at 
the same time. These are different mental processes, 
carried on by different portions of the brain. The rea- 
soning is done by the perceptive and reflective organs. 
Thinking and acting go together, as when we think we 
are right we act. Remembering is a struggle to regain 
Rightness, and when that is presumptively regained 
we think — act. All of which goes to prove that rea- 
soning, remembering, thinking, are different mental 
processes carried on by different portions of the 
brain and should not be attempted at the same time 
If you are about to deliver an address do not mix 
your memorized and extemporary utterances or you 
will make a mess of both. We all know that we can 
do but one thing at a time, be in but one place at a 
time, go in one direction at a time, yet when we are 
working our intellectual faculties we slide so easily 
from one mental process to another that we are very 
apt to do a great deal of ineffectual brain labor. "Con- 
centration," writers tell us, is the means of getting the 
best out of our thinking. If they were to say con- 



80 The Thinking Universe 

centration is the means of getting the best out of our 
reasoning they would be right. It cannot be pointed 
out too often that Reasoning is primary to all con- 
scious Thinking. Subconsciously we do all our per- 
fect thinking and acting, apparently automatically. 
When we think consciously it is the result of having 
arrived at apparent Rightness by means of Reason, 
and then making an effort to act. Our actions in this 
state of mind are confused and awkward — self-con- 
scious — for the Subconsciousness has not yet become 
accustomed to that line of action. When we concen- 
trate our reasoning faculties we have but to decide 
first of all what we are after, then how we will go 
about it, and if no solution comes to the reasoning 
mind hold steadily to the question we are asking our- 
selves, become static, that is, settle into a receptive 
state of mind, become balanced. In this state of 
equipoise our whole being is relaxed and, as it were, 
quietly listening for an answer to the question we are 
asking ourselves. In this way we become in harmony 
with our Infinite selves, and the urge of our question- 
ing brings an answer. The Infinite Urge to Rightness 
responds, our reasoning minds cease to be static and 
become dynamic with a glow of Rightness. This 
glow may be scarcely detected, but it is sure to come, 
and if we remain in Stillness a little longer it will 
develop into a pleasing sense that the way will appear 



Negative Life 81 

—and it will appear. Sometimes it comes like a flash, 
and it all depends on how complete is the harmony 
we establish between our Reasoning and Infinite 
selves. The establishment of this harmony requires 
careful and continuous practice, but in every way it 
is gloriously worth the effort.. 

To return to the effect of Reason upon the Subcon- 
sciousness, let us see if this Habit Mind ever becomes 
unresponsive to our ordinary Reasonings. Habit is 
said to be second nature, i. e., our Subconsciousnesses 
become so firmly set by repeatedly doing things in a 
certain way, apparently with the consent of our Rea- 
son, that any effort to change the method or leave the 
thing undone is met with stubborn resistance. Begin- 
ning with the occasional use of alcoholic stimulants in 
their milder forms, it is well known that a man very 
easily becomes addicted to the drink habit. He takes 
it to excess, becomes intoxicated, foolish, helpless, and 
finally sick. He does this again and again. Each 
time his friends and his Reason tell him he is not 
Right. He argues with his Subconsciousness, but as 
it is an unreasoning thing he gets no satisfaction. He 
"makes up his mind" to quit drinking, but subcon- 
sciously he yearns mightily for his accustomed stimu- 
lants. Only those who have been consumed by this 
terrible yearning can appreciate how paltry a thing 
Reason appears as ah offset to it. The desire for 



82 The Thinking Universe 

drink seems to be a living, devilish thing. It grips the 
vitals with fingers of fire. Sometimes a great calam- 
ity, confinement in a hospital, the "gold cure," the 
prayerful pleadings of a wife, of a member of the 
Salvation Army or a clergyman, may cause the inebri- 
ate to become static long enough for 'his better self, 
the Infinite within him, to become a source of 
strength, and the seventh intake of his Reason sup- 
plies him with strength, which for a time at least 
may make him positive, static, in Rightness, and thus 
able to resist. Unfortunately, however, a return to 
old scenes and old associates, perhaps made necessary 
by his avocation, wakes up his memory life, startles 
his habit impulses into a renewed clamor, and he finds 
his Reason a willing tool of his Subconsciousness and 
returns to his old habits, less able than ever to control 
them. Why? He does not understand himself. He 
does not know how, at the moment of temptation, to 
seize the hand of his better self and be pulled away 
from danger. He has never really "made up his 
mind" to quit drinking. He has not "made up his 
Subconscious mind." 

The drug habit, the use of narcotics, is much the 
same. The power of Reason has been weakened by 
frequent yieldings to a habit so strongly established 
in the Subconsciousness as to become Its sense of 
Rightness. Chronic disease is much the same. It 



Negative Life 83 

establishes itself in the Subconsciousness until it be- 
comes Second Nature, and the Subconsciousness 
causes the functioning of the body to follow the line 
of disease instead of health. The Subconsciousness 
in providing the body with diseased functioning thinks 
it is doing right, its idea of Right being supplied it 
by its frequent repetitions of diseased functionings. 
How disease starts is often apparently as obscure as 
the origin of life itself. Many diseases apparently 
mysterious in their origin are doubtless the result of 
a memory of that disease being in the Subconscious- 
ness, possibly carried for many generations back and 
startled into asserting itself by some bodily condi- 
tion, environment or occurrence. In this way odors 
have a remarkable effect upon some people, whose 
Subconsciousnesses carry a memory of that particular 
odor, which had that particular effect upon people 
generations ago whose experiences had their share in 
forming the Subconsciousnesses in question. When the 
Reason accepts the working of the memory conscious- 
ness as something that cannot be combated it instant- 
ly forms an alliance with the sick impulse and aids in 
its development. On the other hand, when Reason, 
understanding the working of the Subconsciousness, 
sees an hereditary trouble developing, or in fact ob- 
serves anything developing which is not in harmony 
with itself — Reason — it can very quickly stop its de- 



84 The Thinking Universe 

velopmvnt by turning to its Infinite self and becoming 
Positive in its Rightness. These things will be fur- 
ther discussed in the chapters on "healing," and have 
been noted here simply to make harmonious our pro- 
gress in the study of Life and Living. What we need 
to fix firmly in our minds are these two points : 

(1) Our Subconsciousness is not a weak thing. 
It is strong with the development of hundreds of cen- 
turies of unceasing struggle for animal perfection. 
Its strength is in proportion to the perfection of our 
physical breeding, and when we discover its strength, 
even when our Reason tells us it is pursuing a wrong 
course, we should be proud of it and not revile it, 
though it takes a mighty and prolonged struggle to 
bring it to the standard of our Reason. 

(2) It is not a foolish, capricious or wicked thing. 
It is as absurd to consider it so as to take that view 
of the Subconsciousness of a horse, an ox, a. dog or a 
tree. They are all developed on the same lines, except 
as Reason is interposed in the human Subconscious- 
ness. Every Subconsciousness is- wise with the wis- 
dom of Infinity, as far as its own species is concerned. 
Every Subconsciousness, having been built up by the 
repetitional, the habitual, as moved by the Infinite 
Urge to Rightness, considers the repetitional, the 
habitual, the proper course to pursue. When we con- 
sider how much of our living is made up of this sort 



Negative Life 85 

of thing we will not wonder that it is so. All our 
functioning is Subconscious, and it is fortunate for 
us that it is so, for if we had to be conscious of every 
breath we draw, every movement of our hearts, of 
our digestive organs, we would not last an hour. 
We would not dare to sleep for fear we would forget 
to breathe or keep the heart at its work. These 
things are done by the sleepless Subconsciousness. 
The joy of living in a physical sense comes from the 
work of a normal Subconsciousness performing its 
duties without our being aware of it. Every Sub- 
consciousness is, with its Supraconsciousness — the 
Infinite Life — complete in itself. This is in harmony 
with the Egoism of the Universe, that every Conscious- 
ness and Subconsciousness is to itself the center of 
Life; in no sense is it helpless. Affected, of course, 
by environment, the horse, the tree, the flower, suffi- 
cient to itself, pursues the path of perfection of species, 
in its growth and in passing away to make room for 
others. It must be evident to us, then, that every un- 
reasoning Subconsciousness at least is so constituted 
as to be able to "work out its own salvation. " 



CHAPTER VII 

The Influence of the Subconscious on the Rea- 
son — Divine Hypnotism ? 

We have noticed how Reason, when diligently em- 
ployed, can cause the Subconsciousness to acquire ac- 
complishments entirely new to the development that it 
has found through centuries of progress and untold 
generations of our ancestors. Having seen how Rea- 
son can affect it, let us glance at how it can affect 
Reason. Perhaps no better description of the perti- 
nacity of our Subconsciousness — our Memory, our 
Habit Mind — in asserting its standard of Rightness, 
acquired, as we have seen, as in all other animal Sub- 
consciousnesses, through experience, often "red of 
beak and claw," is to be found than in the seventii 
chapter of Romans : 

15. For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I 
not; but what I hate, that do I. 

16. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law 
that it is good. 

17. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 

18. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good 
thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is 
good I find not. 

19. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would 
not, that I do. 

20. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but 
sin that dwelleth in me. 

21. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present 
with me. 

22. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 

23. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law 
of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which 
is in my members. 

24. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body 
of this death? 

25. I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the 
mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin. 



The Influence of the Subconscious 87 

Paul, with all his mastery of logic, with all his skill 
as a Reasoner, at times was evidently fearful of his 
ability to overcome the "sin that dwelt in him." 
When we have made some noble resolution and mis- 
erably failed to adhere to it, who amongst us has not 
cried, "O wretched man that I am! Who shall de- 
liver me from the body of this death ?" Paul's answer 
to his own question is not satisfying. Who can tell 
what he really means? The quips and quirls of his 
logic have made the Pauline Theology an almost fruit- 
less study. Putting this aside, let us face the situa- 
tion as he saw it and as we all see it. Our Reason — 
our unsensuous self — finds Rightness in a certain 
course. When we attempt to pursue this course our 
Memory Mind begins to raise objections. We have 
made up our minds always to tell the truth without 
a shadow of evasion or equivocation. Our Habit 
Mind tells us that "all men are liars," that we will 
be misunderstood, misrepresented, find it impossible 
to live with people, to do business. We insist that 
we will pursue the course we have mapped out. It 
comes back at us with the assertion that it is not 
worth while, that we will tire ourselves out and make 
everybody tired of us. We still insist that we will 
stick to our plan. It asserts that we will be really 
doing harm by pursuing such a course, that many 
untruths are merely diplomatic efforts to evade fric- 



88 The Thinking Universe 

tion and "white lies" are the essence of true polite- 
ness; that we can do more good ourselves and enable 
other people to be better by ignoring faults or even 
quietly accepting them as virtues in disguise. Still 
we persist. We meet Mrs. Smith, who is wearing 
a hat ultra-fashionable to hideousness. She has paid 
a big price for it and wants to know, "How do you 
like my hat?" We are determined to tell the truth, 
but we stammer and stutter and turn red in the face 
— our Subconsciousness is telling us that we will 
make a mess of our friendship if we do not assert 
that her hat is pretty. She sees our predicament, 
also turns red in the face, becomes angry, and snaps 
at us, "You hateful old thing! You are just envious 
of me." She rushes away. Our Subconsciousness 
whispers, "I told you so. You will always be in hot 
water if you try to tell the truth." We blame our- 
selves for not being prepared for the emergency; our 
only trouble is that our Subconsciousness is untrained 
in telling the truth nicely, and we have been guilty 
of doing a right thing wrongly. We have luncheon 
with Mrs. Brown. The coffee is vile. She admits it 
and we do not deny it. She thinks we do not care 
enough for her good opinion to assert that the cof- 
fee is good even when she herself knows it is bad. 
She is hurt, and we know it. Our Subconsciousness 
again whispers, "I told you so. You cannot be dif- 



The Influence of the Subconscious 89 

ferent from other people. They won't understand 
you." We have a newspaper and tell the truth about 
its circulation. Our advertising agents quit us and 
we lose business. Again our Subconsciousness tells 
us we are making fools of ourselves. A friend asks 
us to testify in court, giving his version of what is in 
litigation. He explains what he desires us to say. 
We tell him that that is not our view of it at all. He 
wants to know if we cannot take that view of it, as 
it is the "right" one. It is useless to argue. He is 
hurt and we feel that he hates us. Again our Sub- 
consciousness whispers, "I told you so." A friend 
asks us to pledge ourselves to vote for him. We 
know he is unfit for the office he seeks. We also 
know that we can keep his friendship by promising 
to vote for him even if we do not vote at all or for 
the other candidate. We tell him the truth and he 
leaves us in disgust, saying that he always knew we 
never wanted to see him get ahead. Again Subcon- 
sciousness reminds us of our "folly." What is 
wrong? Trying to do right, evil is always with us. 
Why does our Subconsciousness fail to help us? 
Why does it persist in flouting us? Because it has 
been educated to believe that "diplomacy," even to 
the extent of lying and perjury, is Right. It is forti- 
fied in this by seeing almost everybody doing the 
same thing, by its memory of what our ancestors 



90 The Thinking Universe 

have done. It is following the Urge to Rightness 
as it sees it. Whenever we follow a fashion we are 
apt to follow an unreasoning Urge to appear Right 
in the eyes of others. We follow the unreasonable 
fashions almost as slavishly as we do the reasonable 
ones. The impulse is right, but it takes a wrong 
direction. The impulse is towards harmony, but it 
often results in a harmony of ugliness. Reason 
should correct our tendencies to follow our Subcon- 
scious urge when it (Reason) tells us that the im- 
pulse is that of our animal rather than spiritual 
being. It is not "sin dwelling in us," but an Urge to 
Rightness dwelling in us, unguided by Reason. That 
is the trouble. When we determine on any course 
of Rightness we must be prepared for the initial 
difficulties. We must be sure that there is no ele- 
ment of spitefulness in us, that our impulse is sweet 
and pure. If it is so, if we can go into our Infinite 
selves when the trial of our resolution comes, our 
good intentions will be made manifest and we will do 
the thing so sweetly, so gently, that there will be 
no sting, and instead of reproaching ourselves we will 
feel a joy at finding that doing right is not as hard 
as it is made out to be. If it is known that we have 
not made truth-telling a mere excuse for saying 
wounding things, but that it is a principle with us, 
we will be loved, not hated, for it, and instead of 



The Influence of the Subconscious 91 

losing popularity and business we will find people 
"putting things our way." A sin is a mistake, not 
an entity cursed in its origin. When the Subcon- 
sciousness tempts the drunkard to take the drink that 
will make him fall down, it does it because it follows 
its "habit" Rightness — its Urge to the Rightness to 
which it has become accustomed by habit. It is the 
same Urge which makes the tree grow and the flower 
bloom, only in the man Reason lent itself for so long 
a period to strengthening the alcoholic Subconscious- 
ness in its idea of Rightness, that when Reason at- 
tempts to re-assert itself it finds itself powerless in 
the presence of the "demon of drink." Who is to 
blame? Infinity was not made for Man, nor were 
the laws which govern the Expressions of Infinity 
suspended in his favor when he was Expressed. The 
laws were made for the progress and perfection of 
everything, including Man. The Urge to Rightness 
is universal — Man cannot escape it. This Urge to 
Rightness works perfectly in every unreasoning thing. 
If Reason works rightly in Man, the universal Urge 
to Rightness in him works rightly. Are we so con- 
stituted as to be able by Reason to control and direct 
the Urge to Rightness of our animal natures — our 
Subconsciousnesses? If not, Man is a miserable bur- 
lesque as an "image of his Maker." It is inconceiv- 
able that the Infinite should express Man to be more 



92 The Thinking Universe 

helpless than the beast or the plant. If Infinity gave 
Man Reason to guide the Urge to Rightness of his 
Subconsciousness and yet did not give him a means 
of enforcing this guidance, the Free Will of Man is 
a farce. Also if Infinity guided the Urge to Right- 
ness as it guides that Urge in all Unreasoning Life, 
Man's Free Will would become a farce, because he 
would be always automatically right and his perfec- 
tion would be no more than the perfection of the 
plant or the beast, and by no means that Rightness 
of his own finding for which he is designed. 

Now where do we find Paul with his controversial 
hair-splittings which are at once the puzzle and de- 
light of Theologians and Doctors of Logic? Does 
his doctrine teach that Man can or cannot successfully 
direct the Urge to Rightness of his Subconscious 
mind? His cry, "Who shall deliver me from the 
body of this death?" indicates that he considers him- 
self unable to do so. At this point we find our finger 
on the elemental fault of the Pauline Theology — 
Man's inability to help himself — the doctrine of Help- 
lessness. We know that Man can do nothing, which 
is but another way of saying that he can think noth- 
ing, which he is not conscious of being able to do or 
think. Therefore if Paul was not conscious of being 
able to direct and control the Urge to Rightness of 
his Subconsciousness, he was unable to do so. At 



The Influence of the Subconscious 93 

present let us look at the situation entirely apart from 
the only remedy which Paul suggests. A man can 
possess nothing outside of what he is conscious of 
possessing. Tons of gold may be buried in his cellar, 
but if he is unconscious of it he does not possess the 
gold. Undoubtedly he has powers which he never 
exercises. Being unconscious of the possession of 
these powers in his spiritual being, they are useless 
to him except as his Consciousness develops and be- 
comes aware of them. Stop a moment and look at 
this. Everything outside of a man's Consciousness 
is as if it did not exist; it does not, cannot, exist to 
Him. The air he breathes is useless to him until 
he takes it into his conscious body. All the water of 
the Great Lakes cannot slake his thirst until some 
of it is in his conscious body. All the beauties of 
heaven and earth are nothing to him till they are 
brought into his Consciousness by a sense avenue. 
Outside of his Consciousness he can have no wife, 
father, mother, sister, children. All the food in the 
storehouses of the earth cannot satisfy his hunger 
until some of it comes into his Consciousness. There 
is no Infinity for him outside of his Consciousness. 
Outside of his Consciousness there can be no God, 
no Christ, no Truth — nothing. This cannot be dis- 
puted. There is no means of injecting into his Con- 
sciousness a thing which is not there. There is no 






94 The Thinking Universe 

one to inject such a thing, as it is the absolute law 
of the Infinite, a creative fiat, that no Consciousness 
shall be interfered with except by suggestion. If 
Paul had been conscious of no means of escaping 
"the body of this death" he would have been indeed 
helpless, "without God or hope in the world." His 
consciousness of deliverance "through Jesus Christ 
our Lord" gave him hope. Let us examine it. 

His Consciousness made him aware of the posses- 
sion of a Christ, i. e., he had Christ in him. Now 
we are in the presence of the fundamental weakness 
of Christianity. That weakness is the Theologizing 
of Christ as a personage of twenty centuries ago in- 
stead of regarding It as a principle which we must 
personify as ourselves Now. For if Christ be a per- 
sonage, even a spiritual personage, He cannot be in 
us and we cannot be conscious of Him. As a per- 
sonage He cannot enter us. Like the hypnotist, who 
substitutes his Consciousness for that of his willing 
subject, He, if He was a personage could, and if He 
is a spiritual personage can, control our Subcon- 
sciousness, but at the expense of our identity. As 
we must abdicate the throne of our Reason before 
giving it up to the hypnotist, we cease to be our- 
selves while under his influence. Is this Paul's idea 
of conversion — this giving up of our Reason, i. e., 
abandoning the purpose for which we were expressed 



The Influence of the Subconscious 95 

— to be Christ automatons? Is it possible? Is there 
such a thing as "Divine Hypnotism," commonly 
called "conversion"? We can only judge of its pos- 
sibility by the performances of those who believe they 
have been so treated. If their Consciousnesses have 
been so replaced by the Christ Consciousness that 
their thinking, their living, is that of the Christ, the 
Immaculate, then we can believe that those who pro- 
fess to have been thus converted have by a loss of 
their developed identity "put on Christ/' What do 
we find? Are there any perfect men or women, 
judging them by the Christ standard? There are 
none who even profess such perfection, to say noth- 
ing of the non-existence of anyone possessing such 
perfection. If we compare the best "converted" with 
the best "unconverted" man of our acquaintance, we 
find no difference that cannot be accounted for by 
temperament and environment. They are equally 
good husbands, fathers, brothers, neighbors and citi- 
zens. Their habits may be different, but that is a 
matter of the Subconsciousness. Again, take the 
worst "converted" man of our acquaintance and com- 
pare him with the worst "unconverted 5 man we hap- 
pen to know. There is no difference that cannot be 
accounted for by temperament and environment, and 
again we fail to detect a change of Consciousness. 
In studying the behavior of a man but recently 



96 Ths Thinking Universe 

"changed" we find no great difference except perhaps 
in his habits. The most noticeable change is perhaps 
that in the behavior of the habitual drunkard. For 
a time at least he changes his habits, but many drunk- 
ards reform without being "converted." Reformed 
men of both classes show their reformation by chang- 
ing their places of resort. One goes to church instead 
of to saloons, the other goes about with his wife and 
temperate friends, and we judge the difference to 
be only that; in neither case do we see signs ot 
Divine hypnosis. 

Let us look at the history of the past, then glance 
at the condition of things today. What has been 
known as the "Church" — the dominant expression in 
each country of Theological Orthodoxy — has con- 
sistently refused to recognize Reason in its councils, 
and Reason, thus rejected, has sought other channels 
in working out the Infinite Urge to Rightness within 
it. This has been known as the conflict between 
Science and Religion. Galileo was imprisoned by the 
"Church," then having temporal • power, for assert- 
ing that the sun stood still and the earth 
moved. All scientific searchers for truth were 
treated in the same way. Those within the 
Church or under its domination who dared to 
express the results of the workings of their Reason 
for Rightness in Theological matters, were punished 



The Influence of the Subconscious 97 

by the pains of the Inquisition or burned at the stake 
These openly cruel persecutions ceased as Reason 
established a firmer foothold, but if we read the lives 
of Darwin, Huxley, Spencer and others who differed 
with Orthodoxy, we find that they suffered from the 
ostracisms and penalties inflicted by arrogant Ortho- 
doxy that other men might be discouraged from 
adopting their views or lines of research. Fortunate- 
ly the Urge to Rightness in Man has been too strong 
to be overwhelmed by arrogant assumption — which is 
but a perverted expression of the Urge to Rightness. 
The Church has been deprived, by its ostracism of 
reasoners, of the strength it should have had in de- 
veloping the real meaning of the Infinite, while other 
avenues of expression have been chosen by great 
thinkers to work out their Urge to Rightness. Thus 
electrical knowledge, astronomy, all the sciences, en- 
gineering, hygiene and sanitation, politics and eco- 
nomics, even eleemosynary and educational pursuits of 
the higher order, have become divorced from the 
Church and made great progress, while the Church 
itself has not even been able to maintain anything 
like its old ascendency, and has even fallen into such 
a situation as to be regarded very much as a social 
club, as an easily obtained badge of respectability, 
or at best as a good organization to keep peo- 
ple away from worse things. It is comforting to the 



98 The Thinking Universe: 

extent that it ministers to and encourages a belief in 
personal helplessness in weaklings, while it at least 
partially satisfies the Urge to Rightness in others who 
are stronger, but in the largest sense is as helpful to 
neither as enlightened Reason would be. As a means 
of bringing about individual, family, communal, or 
national Rightness, what has it done? The Orthodox 
world is filled with lawyers, courts, policemen, and 
prisons, to enforce local or national laws, while the 
nations of Europe, so long devoting their spare 
strength to organizing and maintaining great armies, 
navies and arsenals, are at this moment of writing 
engaged in the deadliest conflict known to history. 
King George, "Defender of the Faith" in the realms 
of Great Britain, is allied with the Czar of Russia, 
head of the Greek Church; with Italy, the cradle if 
not the birthplace of Christian Theology, and with 
Catholic France — the least religious of the allies — to 
overwhelm if possible the Kaiser, who believes him- 
self to be the Agent of God; Francis Joseph, the 
strongest earthly supporter of the Pope, and Mahom- 
etan Turkey. Theologized Christianity has had ample 
opportunities for many centuries to bring about in 
these countries a state of mind which would have 
made war impossible, as impossible as it is unreason- 
able. The hierarchies and priests of all these coun- 
tries are offering strenuous prayers for the success 



The Influence of the Subconscious 99 

of the nations to which they belong. If the conver- 
sion to Christianity of the belligerent millions has 
been a change of that Divinely hypnotic sort we must 
presume to take place if a change at all is effected 
outside of the Reason, they would not by the million 
be calling upon the Source of their change for the 
overthrow of each other. These nations, if their 
Christianity is of the sort that by their own consent 
they have abdicated Reason, to be controlled by the 
Consciousness of Christ, must all, with the exception 
of Turkey, be controlled by the same Consciousness 
and therefore express the same thing. But they do 
not. Christian Germany burns with blood lust for the 
overthrow of Great Britain, and Great Britain returns 
the compliment with an equally burning desire to wipe 
Germany off the map. They certainly cannot be con- 
trolled by the same Divine Consciousness, and we 
must conclude that no Divine Consciousness holds 
any of these belligerent nations in its spell. On the 
other hand, we must conclude that this conflict of 
elemental passions, bloodier, deadlier, more wide- 
spread than any other war, is but a return of the 
belligerents to that state of mind which controlled 
half-developed Man who beat out the brains of his 
enemy with club or axe of stone to demonstrate 
the Tightness of the idea known as the "survival of 
the fittest." The "survival of the fittest'' was, and 



100 Th£ Thinking Univ^rss 

is, the standard of Rightness in animal life, rendered 
necessary by the development of the simpler into the 
higher forms of Mind. With the growth of Reason 
and the apparently complete development of our 
physical bodies, the standard of Might being Right 
was expected to disappear. Why has it not done 
so? There are many perfervid Theologians who 
assert that because Rationalism had so rudely 
crowded Religion this carnage became inevitable. 
This, of course, is rubbish, for Rationalism is Rea- 
son — perhaps not sufficiently enlightened by a con- 
sciousness of the Infinite — and of all terrible things 
since the world began this war is certainly the most 
unreasonable. It would be nearer the truth to as- 
sert that because Reason has been refused its proper 
place in Church councils it has not found its proper 
place in national councils. If Reason, illumined, 
nourished, by the wisdom it can at its call receive 
from the Infinite Life within every reasoning crea- 
ture, had its proper place, there would be no war. 
If the Church had taught the doctrine that every 
reasoning creature had a supply of this Infinite wis- 
dom within himself, to be found for the seeking, 
individualism would have been so developed at this 
stage of Man's progress that Nationalism in the form 
of bloodthirsty hordes, with fingers tingling with beastly 
hate, would not be urging on to murder and rapine. 



The Influence of the Subconscious 101 

Instead, the Theologians taught Man's "helplessness in 
sin," and pointed out the personal Christ, now located 
in heaven, as the only means of freedom from such evils 
as the lust for an enemy's blood. Belief in such a doc- 
trine left Christian Europe as helpless in the hands of 
racial hate as the cave-dwellers of the prehistoric age. 

Even Paul, in the misery of his contests with the 
"sin which dwelt in him," cried, "O wretched man 
that I am!" Then Paul was not fully "converted," 
and if partially "converted," why not entirely "con- 
verted"? If it is possible to be partially changed it 
should be possible to become entirely so. Is it the 
fault of the subject in his unwillingness completely 
to abandon his identity? If so, it is because he does 
not want to be entirely changed, and he is not "con- 
verted" at all. Is it the fault of the spiritual Christ 
personage? It would be slandering His character 
to assert that He desires men to be only partially 
good, therefore but partially happy. It is therefore 
inconceivable, if He takes possession of a man as 
does a hypnotist, that He would not take possession 
of him entirely. Let us look at it as if He did. It 
would be the application of a force unrecognized by 
the Consciousness of the subject, for the subject 
must abandon his Consciousness before he can be so 
hypnotized. It would be as if a long spiritual rope 
with a spiritual hook on the end of it were let down 



102 The Thinking Universe 

from a spiritual windlass in heaven. As the hook 
swayed about amongst men we will try to conceive 
of it catching on to the collar of the coat or the 
slack of the trousers of a man who had "elected" 
himself to be thus treated, or had been "elected" by 
Infinity to be so captured. We will have to imagine 
the Infinite looking down from His Great White 
Throne, seeing the situation, and calling to His an- 
gels, "Wind him up. He is one of the elect." The 
sinner on the hook, the evil in him still holding, 
would grab at the grass, the bushes, the trees, the 
telegraph wires, to try to stay here. The Infinite 
would say, "Wind him up. He is one of the elect." 
As they pulled this man off the hook and presented 
him to the Infinite, we must conceive of the Infinite 
embracing him with the words, "Well done, good 
and faithful servant. Enter thou into the joy 01 
thy Lord." How does this harmonize with the doc- 
trine of Free Will? Can we harmonize it? Yet it 
is practically what must be going on if there are 
"elect," or those who successfully "elect" themselves 
to be taken into eternal goodness in spite of the evil 
that "wars in their members." It is as impossible 
as it is grotesquely absurd. No force mightier than 
the Infinite Urge to Rightness is applied by Infinity 
to anything in the Universe. This calm, loving, 



The Influence of the Subconscious 103 

and irresistible force is always bearing upon us, 
urging us to the Perfection at which we shall all arrive. 

Let us now look at the operations of this Christ 
Principle when personified by ourselves. We recog- 
nize the fact that we are so constituted, so equipped, 
within our Consciousness, as to help ourselves. We 
look at the perfect animals, perfect trees, perfect 
plants, about us, and we see that each thing has 
within itself the machinery for complete and perfect 
development. In the acorn the oak exists in a state 
of embryo. With the environment which Nature 
affords, this acorn becomes a shoot, a sapling, a 
mighty tree. We recognize that the Infinite Life and 
the Subconscious life were both IN the acorn, that 
they were both IN the shoot, they were both IN the 
sapling, both IN the tree. We recognize the fact 
that the Subconsciousness in the acorn knew that it 
was to become an oak and had the machinery within 
itself to do so. We recognize that the Infinite Life 
in the acorn urged the Subconscious life to its full 
development. We cannot conceive it to be other- 
wise. We look at ourselves. We know that we 
were before we were born, that our animal cells 
were completely pictured in the fecundated egg in 
our mother's womb. We recognize that Reason was 
also in that egg, intended to develop with our 
growth and to be one of the influences in shaping 



104 The Thinking Universe 

our advancement. Furthermore, we know that In- 
finite Life was in that egg, with its wondrous, 
mighty Urge impelling the growth of the Subcon- 
scious, the animal body, and also impelling with 
equal force the growth and development of our 
Reason. We know that when the Subconscious, the 
animal, life, caused by the heredity which built it 
up, and often assisted by our mistaken Reason con- 
senting to it developing in a wrong direction, seems 
to dominate our Reason, we can turn to the Infinite 
Life within us as to the Father Life, and find the 
strength, the wisdom, to set our Subconsciousnesses 
right. All these processes are within ourselves. 
There should be no looking for outside help, for our 
enlightened Reason must tell us of our own full 
equipment. We may be sick and our Reason may 
show us no way to get well. We send for a physi- 
cian or a metaphysician. The doctor gives us medi- 
cine and good advice. Neither is any good unless 
we take it. How does it do us good? The medicine 
may change our functioning through its inherent 
qualities or because we reason that it will do so, 
but we must become conscious of the change, or the 
forces within us will not make the cure. No reputable 
doctor pretends that his medicine cures any more 
than that the sticking-plaster over the wound heals 
the cut. They simply assist that which is within 



The; Influence of the Subconscious 105 

ourselves to do the work. The metaphysician, by 
substituting his healthy reasoning for our reasoning 
weakened by disease, induces the Subconsciousness 
to function rightly. This is often helpful, and it gives 
our own Reason a chance to regain its equilibrium, 
that is, to become static, in harmony with the In- 
finite Life within us. However, this will be dealt 
with later on. Now what we desire to see is that 
the processes are all carried on within ourselves — 
perfectly if the doctor knows what to give or the 
metaphysician knows how to apply his Conscious- 
ness as a temporary substitute for ours. 

Why should we almost invariably have this im- 
pulse to send for help when we feel we are out of 
gear? We know that the horse, the dog, the tree, 
does not, cannot, send for help, yet they all com- 
plete their progress from seed to the summit of their 
growth in perfect health when they have a perfect 
environment. Are we as helpless in matters of sick- 
ness as the Theologians would have us believe we 
are in the matters of so-called sin? As a matter of 
fact, we are thoroughly equipped to help ourselves 
if we only knew how to utilize the forces within us. 
We are better situated than the tree insomuch as we 
can change our environment if it becomes unwhole- 
some, and in no respect is our equipment for per- 
fection less admirable than that of the best other 



106 The Thinking Universe 

thing in Nature. The same Urge to Rightness is in 
us as in all other things, but it is interfered with 
in the human being by Reason. It seems evident 
that Reason, then, is the thing that makes our physi- 
cal perfection so uncertain. Conversely, it is evi- 
dent that if we reason rightly our physical perfection 
will be certain. We cannot hope to do this at once, 
but we can all begin. We can at least begin to divest 
ourselves of that idea of helplessness we have been 
trained to entertain with regard to both sickness and 
sin. Many of us have ceased sending for a priest 
when we feel sinful, believing we can change our 
own state of mind by a proper effort. When we get 
to understand ourselves better we will cease to send 
for a physician when we feel sick, but instead will 
appeal to our Infinite self for relief. And who should 
know more about you than your Infinite self? If 
you think for a moment that it is that Infinite self 
that has urged your growth and development from 
the tiny egg, you will be filled with wonder that you 
have never thought of appealing. to it when you go 
wrong. It did not put you wrong. You, that is your 
Reasoning self, or your Subconscious self, got out of 
gear, and it is a law of your Infinite being not to in- 
terfere with you by force or it would step in and 
make you right without being asked. If it did step 
in and make you right without being asked you would 



The Influence of the Subconscious 107 

be relieved of all further responsibility and would be- 
come automatically right, and no better than the 
flower or the horse. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Living Is But a Series of States of Mind 

Presumably having arrived at the point of view 
from which everything appears to us to be Mind, we 
must be convinced that the difference in the things 
we see about us is nothing but a difference in their 
"state of mind." They are different we know, there 
is but one Mind we know, and the difference then 
must consist entirely in the state we observe that 
mind to be in. The tree is in the tree state of mind, 
i. e., it expresses the Subconsciousness of being a 
tree — it thinks itself to be a tree. The horse is in a 
horse state of mind; it is conscious of being a horse, 
i. e., thinks itself a horse. The man is in the human 
state of mind, he knows himself to be a man; he is 
conscious of possessing Reason, and that it is his 
special Consciousness, differentiating him from other 
beings. The tree has various states of mind ; its stem 
knows itself to be a stem ; its roots, its branches, its 
leaves, its flowers, its fruit, all evince a different state 
of mind. Each one of these things passes through 
different states of mind in its progress to perfection. 
So in ourselves our lives are each a series of con- 



Living — A SkriSS of States of Mind 109 

tinually changing states of mind. Our heads, our 
hands, our feet, our organs, each have a state of mind 
continually changing as the central thought changes, 
and in changing makes a new expression. When our 
Reason decides that it is time for us to go to bed we 
think we will go to bed. Everything in us thinks 
of going to bed, and if we are in a normal state 
everything in us co-operates in going to bed. We 
decide that we will not go to bed. Everything in 
us decides that it will not go to bed, and remains 
quiescent, waiting for our Reason to decide what it 
will cause us to think next. We decide to have some 
supper, and everything in us gets ready for supper. 
Then we decide that we will take a little walk be- 
fore retiring, and everything in us gets ready for the 
stroll. Then we decide that the supper has made us 
feel ill, and everything in us feels ill. Or we decide, 
the weather not being good without, to have a game 
of cards before going to bed, and everything in us 
gets ready for a game of cards. These are but sim- 
ple illustrations of our continually changing states of 
mind, all instigated by the Reason. Perhaps we fol- 
low our first impulse and go to bed. We decide to 
go to sleep, but we find it impossible. How is this? 
In everything else Reason was in full control. Now 
instead of going to sleep we begin to remember all 
sorts of things. Something has aroused our Subcon- 



110 The Thinking Universe 

sciousness, our Memory Consciousness. Probably we 
have acquired the habit of remembering before we 
go to sleep — that is, asking ourselves if we have for- 
gotten anything, left anything undone, left some door 
unlocked. If so, it is this habit asserting itself. We 
cannot blame our Subconsciousness, though it seems 
to be over-busy. We know that in the morning we 
would blame it, that is, ourselves, if we left the front 
door unlocked or the dining-room window open. 
However, we find this remembering business irritat- 
ing because we cannot stop it. This is an undesir- 
able state of mind, and we ask ourselves how we 
can change it into a sleep state of mind. We repeat 
the multiplication table, seeking to tire memory by 
making it stick to something dictated by our Reason. 
Or we count imaginary sheep jumping over an imagi- 
nary gate, thus seeking to change the memory state 
of mind to a mathematical state of mind at the direc- 
tion of our Reason. Very few of us appreciate the 
importance of knowing why repeating the multiplica- 
tion table or counting sheep, if persisted in, would 
produce a sleep state of mind. These things are sim- 
ply efforts of our Reason mind to dominate our 
Memory mind. If we succeed in changing our mind 
from a state of memory to a state of calculation we 
may be annoyed by finding ourselves calculating how 
much money we have spent, or lost, or saved, during 



Living — A Series o* States of Mind 1 1 1 

the day, and then we have another fight to change 
our calculating state of mind into the sleep state of 
mind. We see in this how possible it is for us to pass 
from one undesirable state of mind into another, and 
how difficult it may be to get into that state of mind 
we desire to be in. It is the object of this work to 
show how this can best be done. To do this it will 
be necessary to study the laws governing the trans- 
ference of mind from one state into another, in 
order to find out Bow Reason — the voice of which is 
the Will — can control the operation. It is worth our 
while to make a careful study of this, for if success- 
ful in learning the operation of these laws we can at 
once cause our minds to pass from a diseased into a 
healthy state, and have our bodies perfectly express 
the state of mind we desire to be in. 

It will be impossible to learn the operations of the 
law governing the change of the sap into the branch 
or leaf of the tree, and we would study in vain the 
blood of a dog for signs of why and how that blood 
changes into hair, or bone, or teeth. There are 
things, however, that we appear to be able by me- 
chanical contrivances to change into other things of 
a different state of mind. We cannot change a sheep 
into a dog, not only because we do not know how, 
but because there is no how — it is impossible to 
change one Consciousness into another. And when 



1 1 2 The Thinking Universe 

we appear by means of the telephone to change 
sounds into electricity and back again into sounds, 
we must decide that we only appear to do this. As it 
is we talk into the receptacle made to receive the 
sound of our voice, and we know that the sound, as 
sound, cannot be successfully carried over the miles 
of wire connecting us with the thing the listener puts 
to his ear, so we crudely conclude that by some hocus- 
pocus the sound is converted into electricity on our 
end of the wire, and back into sound at the other 
end. It is not so. The vibrations of our voice strike 
the plate which in the telephone represents the tym- 
panum of our ears, and it would be well to inquire 
here into what is the sound changed on the other side 
of our tympanum so as to make it audible to that 
most delicate of all mechanisms, our brain. Is it 
changed at all? What is "sound"? Sound is vibra- 
tion. But then everything else is vibration. Every- 
thing we see about us is produced by vibrations of 
various velocities. Intelligible sounds are produced 
by an arrangement of the velocities of the vibrations 
in a manner which we are accustomed to interpret 
by usage, habit. In speaking into the telephone we 
must follow this usage to be intelligible, and we thus 
produce a set of vibrations which are heard and 
understood afar off. Do these vibrations of the 
atoms in the atmosphere change into the vibrations of 



Living — A Series of States of Mind 1 1 3 

the atoms of electricity, no matter what they are 
called, ions or electrons? If so, there must be a 
point at which the sound ceases and the electric phe- 
nomena begin. This point of cessation must exist, 
whether the sound becomes electricity or, as is the 
fact, the vibrations of sound arouse electrical vibra- 
tions which are carried over the wire and there by 
mechanical contrivance arouse vibrations of sound, 
which are to a great extent identical with the sound 
vibrations made by the speaker. It has already been 
noted that when power when expressed as action in a 
set direction is deflected by another power, there is 
an instant of time, though not an interval of time, 
during which the object propelled in one direction 
rests before starting in the direction to which it is 
deflected by the opposing power. We recognize the 
necessity of this, because we understand that no object 
can go in two directions at once, just as it cannot 
be two things at once; that is, when the ball thrown 
by the pitcher is struck by the bat expressing greater 
power, it rests for an instant of time, not an interval 
of time, before taking its deflected course. So the 
sounds going into the telephone must rest, that is, 
fall into stillness, equilibrium, before they start on 
their way as electrical vibrations. The electricity 
stored in a telephone to receive and transmit these 
vibrations is adjusted in its power to the sounds ex- 



1 14 The Thinking Universe 

pected, and we all know that if we talk unusually 
loudly or whisper we are not intelligible at the other 
end of the wire. So we can understand that the 
electricity stored to take on the vibrations of the 
sound is calculated for the purpose. As a perfectly 
clear understanding of this point is necessary, let us 
exercise our minds for a few moments with tangible 
examples that in changing from one thing to another 
we must go through something different from both. 
In travelling we learn that we must change railway 
stations at a certain point in order to continue our 
journey. We learn that these stations are on different 
sides of the city, and of course we know that we will 
have to PASS THROUGH the city in making the 
change. Again, we learn that we have to change 
trains at a certain station, and we know that we must 
pass through some part of that station or yard in 
making this change; this is a less important change 
than the other, but it is equally necessary, and it is 
equally true that we must pass through something 
in order to make it. Again, it may be that we change 
coaches at a certain point; it may be at some station 
or in transit. In making this change, though less 
difficult still, we know we must go through something 
different from the coach we are in or the one to 
which we are going, in order to accomplish it; i. e., 
we must go through something that is neither the 



Living — A Series of States of Mind ] 1 5 

coach we are in nor the coach to which we are going, 
though it is only the atmosphere between the plat- 
forms of the two coaches. We take our seat in the 
coach selected, but decide to change it for another 
seat. We know that we have to pass through a por- 
tion of the car that is neither one seat nor the other, 
in making this change. Do we know that when we 
changed our minds as to which was the preferable 
seat we mentally passed through something in mak- 
ing the change? Having got back to the intangible, 
let us hold steady for a moment and ask ourselves 
through what our state of mind passed in changing 
from the state in which it preferred one seat, to the 
state in which it preferred another. It certainly 
passed through something, for in reality the changing 
from one state of mind to another was as actual as 
the changing from one railway station to another, 
from one train to another, from one car to another, 
from one seat to another. Between the two states 
of mind there must have been Something or there 
could have been no change, for if there had been no 
Something the two states of mind would have been 
identical. In using the word "Something'' we are 
technically incorrect, because that through which we 
pass is no Thing, it being Unexpressed Life, the In- 
finite. This must be so, as nothing can separate two 
Expressed Things which are so fine and closely asso- 



1 1 6 The Thinking Universe 

ciated as is the Expressed Thought changing into 
another Expressed Thought, except Unexpressed 
Mind, the Omnipresent. We may not be able to 
conceive of the minutiae — to use a term of Time and 
Space to make this discussion intelligible — of inter- 
vening Unexpressed Mind, but we must realize its 
importance as a resisting or conveying power if we 
are to understand ourselves. It is Infinite Life, 
which, being indivisible, has all the qualities and 
powers, in those separating minutiae, of its entirety. 
Through it the Universal Urge must carry the thought 
desiring to change, or it cannot change. If owing to 
obedience to its own law it refuses to pass the state 
of mind desiring to change into another state of mind, 
the change cannot be effected; universal necessity 
requires this. If one state of mind could change into 
another state of mind without the consent of Infinite 
Mind, chaos would be the result. Thought is so 
subtle a thing that its operations could not be con- 
trolled in any other way. If it were not so, and you 
properly appreciated the power of Mind and were 
sufficiently fond of being a bird, you might will to 
change your human state of mind into a bird state 
of mind and become an expression of the latter. This 
change of state of mind would not be passed by the 
Infinite Mind, because it is opposed to its creative 
fiat that one Consciousness — which is itself a state of 



Living — A Series of States of Mind 1 1 7 

mind — cannot transfer itself or be transferred to an- 
other state of mind involving a change of Conscious- 
ness. The Infinite Mind is therefore the censor 
which must pass one state of mind into another state 
of mind in every Expressed thing. The rules of its 
censorship are what we call the laws of Nature, and 
have nothing to do with what we call moral laws, the 
questions of right and wrong, which arise only in the 
human mind, alone capable of reasoning, being left 
for decision to Reason. For instance, a multimillion- 
aire may be in the state of mind to give fifty million 
dollars to educational and charitable institutions. 
Something disgusts him with the management of 
some such institution and he decides to build a chain 
of breweries costing fifty million dollars, instead of 
a chain of hospitals and colleges. Now it would sug- 
gest itself to every ardent Prohibitionist that the In- 
finite, including as It does all Wisdom, all Kindness, 
all Foresight, could not allow such a change of mind 
to take place. Even those not particularly concerned 
with the evils of the drink habit, looking at this ques- 
tion in the ordinary way, would say, "Surely if the 
Infinite censors every change in the state of every 
mind it could not overlook the good it would do to 
the community, to the nation, by refusing to allow 
this change of the millionaire's mind/' The mistake 
in these opinions of what the Infinite should do arises 



118 The Thinking Universe 

from the judgment of Infinite Rightness from the 
standpoint of human Rightness. If the Infinite as- 
sumed a moral censorship and made impossible the 
change in the millionaire's mind, It would at once 
neutralize his Being, i. e., destroy his Free Will, 
prevent him using his Reason. This would instantly 
defeat the object of Man's existence, for if done in 
one instance it would have to be done in every in- 
stance, for Infinity makes no exceptions, and the Free 
Will of the whole human race would be at once made 
impossible. "Aha !" cries the anti-Prohibitionist. 
"Then if the Infinite refuses to prohibit anything, 
what right have we finite creatures to enact prohibi- 
tory laws?" The answer is simple. Our Subcon- 
sciousnesses, our individualities, are built up by testing 
the rightness of our Reason. The law of Evolution and 
of "the survival of the fittest" is nothing but Expressed 
Nature's contest with experience. Even Unreasoning 
Nature has by the law of its Being a right to protect 
itself in every possible way. Reasoning Life has the 
same right, and if a community sees fit to prohibit 
the sale or use of intoxicating liquors it has a right 
to do so in order to test the rightness of such a pro- 
cedure. We may say that a prohibitory law unduly 
restricts human Free Will. It may be so, but it is 
not always so. What the human race has established 
as right and wrong is the result of Experience. The 



Living — A SkriSs of States of Mind 119 

measure of a nation's civilization is to be found in the 
limitations within which it confines the individual. 
In all so-called civilized nations the rights of life and 
property are protected. Forgery, arson, theft and 
murder are very rightly prohibited, though, as we 
have seen, they are not prohibited by Infinite law or 
they would not occur as they do. Thus we see that 
ideas we have established as Right and Wrong are 
the outgrowth of Reason, Experience, and are not of 
Divine authority or patterned after Infinite Right- 
ness except as they evince the working of the Infinite 
Urge to Rightness. When we transgress these right 
human laws we hurt ourselves ; we cannot hurt Infin- 
ity. The opportunity to hurt ourselves is freely and 
fully given us by Infinity in order that we may learn 
not to do so by our arrival at a state of Rightness of 
our Own Finding. 

Sometimes we are impelled by elemental laws 
that are not fully comprehended, to do what has 
been established as a Wrong thing. Let us take 
as an illustration a suspicious husband, who in the 
evening, during the absence of his wife, discovers 
a letter which he considers fully to establish 
her faithlessness. Almost instantly his state of mind 
changes from suspicion into murder. He resolves 
to kill the man who has dared to rob HIM of the 
complete possession of his wife. Here we see the 



120 The Thinking Universe 

elemental Egoism of all Nature projecting itself. 
Every elemental atom considers itself the center of 
Life, and, as has been shown, every man considers 
himself as the center of Life in his elemental concept 
of himself. He resolves to show this intruder who is 
the Best Man — the impulse of the "survival of the 
fittest." The male of every species is willing to fight 
to the death — unless governed by Reason— to show 
that It is the best of its kind. This is an elemental 
impulse allowed by Infinity for the development of 
each species. We prohibit this sort of thing amongst 
men, as such contests are not ordinarily demonstra- 
tions of the survival of the fittest, but merely prove 
which contestant is better armed or takes the fewest 
chances of being killed. Moreover, Reason has shown 
better ways of allowing men to show their fitness 
to survive. The murderous husband, however, in 
re-reading the letter has another change in his state 
of mind, and the change is as fully and freely allowed 
by Infinity as was the first. His stormily working 
Reason decides that his wife has. been the temptress 
and is more to blame than the man. He resolves to 
kill his wife, that she is not fit to survive. He will 
show Her his Superiority. How dare She betray 
Him, the center of the Universe to himself? Again 
the elemental law of Egoism! to be worked in the 
form made necessary in the development of the species 



Living — A Series of States a* Mind 121 

when the Best Man selected the Best Mate for the 
propagation of the species, and felt that he had a 
perfect right to keep her or kill her as he saw fit. 
He puts a revolver in his pocket and hides by the 
front gate, prepared to kill her, and her paramour as 
well if he accompanies her home. As it happens, she 
comes home with some friends, and he defers carry- 
ing out his purpose until they leave. She then, see- 
ing that something is wrong with him, asks him what 
is the matter, and he shows her the letter. Fortu- 
nately for her, she is able to convince him that he is 
absolutely wrong in his reasoning, and he again 
changes his state of mind. All of which goes to 
prove that our codes of Right and Wrong are estab- 
lished by our reasoning, not by Infinity itself, Which 
does no more than Urge us in the right direction. 

These illustrations are sufficient to indicate the 
character of the censorship of the Infinite in merging 
one state of mind into another. It observes its own 
creative fiat ; that is, it observes its own laws, or chaos 
would be the result; it sees that everything else 
obeys these laws to avoid the same result. Now we 
ought to be able to comprehend how universal har- 
mony is preserved in Unreasoning Nature, where 
everything, being Mind, wills, thinks, in perfect uni- 
son with the Infinite Mind. The continuation of this 



122 The Thinking Universe 

study, the task of finding how Reasoning Beings, 
who are alone liable to get out of harmony with the 
Infinite, can restore this harmony, is the most difficult 
part of it. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Law — The Infinite As It Works in Nature 

Law — Infinite and otherwise — to be effective, must 
be intelligible and enforceable. Law is but a fixed 
method of doing things. Infinite law is the set meth- 
od which we have observed in the conduct of all Ex- 
pressions of Life, and have concluded, from its regu- 
larity, to be invariable. The basis of Infinite law 
seems to be simple. Infinity is Rightness, and the 
beginning of everything, then, was Right. Having 
started everything Right — its first action — its second 
is to keep everything Right. That everything, having 
been made Right and Indestructible, must remain 
Right after its Kind, is the only Infinite law. Thus, 
Infinity itself will not interfere with nor change any 
Expressed Consciousness, and will not allow any 
Expressed Consciousness to interfere with or change 
any other Expressed Consciousness except by sug- 
gestion. The Infinite Urge to Rightness, i. e., the 
eternal impulse given to every Thing to become the 
best thing of its species, is the Expression of the only 
Infinite law. This law controls all Reasoning and 
Unreasoning- Nature. In Unreasoning Nature it re- 



124 The Thinking Universe: 

suits in automatic Tightness, no penalty being pro- 
vided for its infraction, as infraction is impossible. 
In Reasoning Nature — Man — it works as certainly as 
in Unreasoning Nature, and carries no penalties ex- 
cept such as Man inflicts upon himself by his use or 
misuse of Reason. 

The laws of Human Consciousness are those gov- 
erning : 

(1) The Supra-Consciousness, which is Infinite 
Life filling Man to his fulness. This, being Infinite 
except as it is limited by being a Consciousness, is 
governed by Infinite Law only, the Expression of 
which is the Eternal Urge to Rightness, and carries 
no penalty for infraction, as it cannot be broken. It 
is the law of the Rightness that is TO BE. 

(2) The Sub-Consciousness. This is the law of 
Memory, of Habit, of what has been in the making 
up of this Sub-Consciousness. It carries as the pen- 
alty of its infraction the disturbance and unrest con- 
sequent upon going contrary to habit, which excites 
fear as to what will be the result if this course is 
persisted in; it is the law of the Rightness that 
HAS BEEN. 

(3) Reason. This is the law of what we consider 
to be right at the moment when we are deciding to 



The Infinite as It Works in Nature 125 

think — to act. It carries the penalty of fear as to the 
result if we do not act as we consider right; it is the 
law of NOW. 

While endeavoring to find the law of OUR Being, 
we find amidst the Expressions of Life in the animal, 
vegetable, and mineral kingdoms such a uniformity 
of principle and progress that we are bound to accept 
them as manifestations of an Infinite law. And rea- 
soning by analogy we can obtain glimpses, faint but 
guiding, of the Law of Being itself. Science teaches 
us of the beginning of material things, and has demon- 
strated that they began, as they begin, in the simplest 
form to us conceivable. Thus when we seek to for- 
mulate the idea of the first Expression of animal life 
within the means with which Reason and experience 
have provided us, we find it with but a single cell, 
adding to itself according to its necessities and en- 
vironment such other cells as have at last produced 
that which appeals to us as the climax of complex cellu- 
lar organisms — the human body. As this rule seems 
to establish the fecundated egg of the simplest variety 
of each species in the animal, vegetable, and mineral 
kingdoms as the beginning of the Expressions of 
Life reachable by human knowledge, so we may con- 
clude that the Law of Being, which has made the 
law of OUR Being progressive, contains all the ele- 
ments of progress. Furthermore, it having been es- 



126 The Thinking Universe 

tablished that all Expressed Life is known to us as 
motion, vibration, so we may reasonably conclude that 
Infinite Life contained, and still contains, though of 
necessity it is Still, all the elements necessary to the 
causation of motion, vibration. This we call the Infi- 
nite Urge. As astronomy has proven by the spec- 
trum that conditions in the most distant planets and 
stars are comparable with the conditions existing 
here, we may again reasonably conclude that Life is 
Omnipresent, without center, circumference, or a par- 
ticle of variation in its All-ness. Its Omnipotence, its 
Omniscience, are equally obvious. It is important 
that we bear all these things distinctly and constantly 
in mind while trying to bring any operation of the 
Infinite within the scope of our understanding. For 
example, we must remember, when we desire to 
bring our Being into harmony with the Infinite Be- 
ing, the instant thought of our Consciousness makes 
instantly operative the Law of Being which is in 
silent control of every cell of our organism. We do 
not need to go afield or afar to reach that which we 
seek. It is here, within us. As the Great Philosophy 
declares, "Say not lo here! and lo there! for the 
Kingdom (state — condition) of Good is within you." 

The Infinite law — as we have become aware of it — 
afifects OUR Being only, as it establishes the inviolabil- 
ity of Consciousness and urges us to Rightness. The 



The Infinite as It Works in Nature 127 

best conception we can have of Creation is the Infi- 
nite Thought expressing itself as a Consciousness. 
We, having the power of thought, can create finite 
things. The author's thought becomes the book, the 
artist's thought becomes the picture, the architect's 
thought becomes the building, the musician's thought 
becomes the melody, in each case the thought pre- 
ceding the thing. We can conceive of the Infinite 
thinking a man and beginning him as a single cell. 
Equally reasonable is it to think of Infinite Life thus 
creating the many forms of Expression found in the 
animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms. With these 
creations came the Infinite fiat that every Conscious- 
ness should develop according to its Kind. Thus 
every atom of Expressed Life has a Consciousness 
peculiarly and inviolably its own. The Consciousness 
of a Thing is what the Thing knows itself to be and 
what it is for. What it knows is what Life Expressed 
it to be. Unexpressed Life is the no-thingness of the 
Universe. The Expressed Life which has been called 
into Being with a special characteristic or individual- 
ity is the Thingness of the Universe. The creative fiat 
controlling all Things is indisputably that no Thing 
can change or destroy another Thing — change or 
destroy being used in the Infinite sense. This is the 
basis of what scientists were in the habit of calling 
the Indestructibility of Matter, which allows matter 



128 The Thinking Universe 

to change its form while the elemental particles retain 
their original individuality or Consciousness under all 
circumstances. Thus oxygen may unite with hydro- 
gen and appear as water, which in turn, when sub- 
jected to a certain amount of heat, becomes steam, or 
in a certain intensity of cold— ice. But each original 
particle, each sentient thing, remains the same in all 
combinations. "Sentient thing" is here used in the 
Infinite sense, that every Expression of Life, no mat- 
ter whether it be a particle of rock or a cell in the 
human body, knows something as a Consciousness, 
though the grades of Consciousness vary as widely as 
the vibrations of the Universe. Thus when the 
globule of water meets the freezing air it knows what 
to do. It combines with other globules of its own 
sort, invariably taking the same shape and doing the 
same thing. The combined particles form prisms, 
snow or ice, and expand, and this we must attribute 
to Consciousness, as we attribute to Consciousness 
the budding of the flower, the instinct of the dog, the 
knowledge of Man. The various grades of Con- 
sciousness function in their own way. When an alkali 
meets an acid it precipitates a salt. When one part of 
oxygen meets two parts of hydrogen, water is the 
result. In no case is water the result of the meeting 
of the acid and alkali, nor is salt the result of the 
union of oxygen and hydrogen; this is Law. Every- 



The Infinite as It Works in Nature 129 

thing is Mind in some stage of refinement, and Mind 
is sentient always, though in its crudest Expressions, 
as in mud and rock, it is difficult to conceive of the 
atoms being possessed of any power of thought. Yet 
it is so. 

The inviolability of Consciousness appears in its 
true importance when we begin to consider the 
Human Consciousness. Man in his development 
from the single cell had always within his Conscious- 
ness the developments he has made. The possibilities 
of a Shakespeare, a Napoleon, an Edison, were all in 
that original cell, which, had there been a microscope 
at the time it came into existence, might scarcely 
have been visible under the most powerful lens. The 
development may have taken millions of years. 
Thought of from the point of view of Infinity, Man 
came up from yesterday, and with this in mind the 
most daring prophet could not exceed the truth in 
foretelling what he may be a million years hence; 
for Man alone, as far as has been discoverable, is 
possessed of reasoning faculties which give him the 
right and the power to change his own Conscious- 
ness — an overwhelmingly marvelous privilege and 
power which by creative fiat Infinity withholds itself 
from exercising. The denial to Itself of the right 
arbitrarily to change the human Consciousness, that 



130 The Thinking Universe 

is, to change it without being invited by that Con- 
sciousness to do so, was the gift to Man of what 
Theologians call Free Will. 

It is evident that Life with us, for us, began with 
the first Expression of Infinity of a Something cog- 
nizable by the human Consciousness. While forms of 
Expression, aggregate Expressiveness, may change in 
a million ways, the original Expressed atom remains 
inviolable, holding latent or developed all the possi- 
bilities of its species throughout eternity. Man, as 
such an Expression, is under the same law, for it 
must be remembered that, so far as is known, the 
human species is alone given power to change its own 
Consciousness; that is, to open or close it to the in- 
coming of Infinite Life. Without arguing this fur- 
ther at present, this necessarily postulates that the 
Infinite gift to the human Consciousness of the self- 
creative faculty — not as to species, but as to the man- 
ner and time of its development — must make each 
such Consciousness as indestructible as is the original 
Expressed atom, known to science as the elemental, 
the indestructible. If this be granted, it of course 
settles the question of the immortality of the human 
Consciousness, which will be considered later on. 

The Law of Being not only provides for the safe- 
keeping of each of its Expressions, but makes infinite 



The Infinite as It Works in Nature 131 

provisions for the conduct of all its Expressions as a 
Unit. Thus the Universe becomes AN Expression — 
every Thing is Life, and all things are Expressed 
Life. The Infinite impulse of Expression finds its 
reflection in humanity, in its unreasoning eagerness to 
propagate and preserve the being of its species. All 
humanity is organized to a greater or less degree to 
preserve the unit and the unity of the race. The 
normal man is a sociable being and desires contact 
with his fellows, hence the marked attractiveness of 
our great centers of population. This, however, is 
but the working out of the Law of Being, which 
causes the atoms of sand, and mud, and water, and 
metal, to associate according to their Kind, forming 
land as plains and mountains, water as lakes, rivers, 
seas, and oceans. If it were not for this impulse of 
association the particles would remain diffused and 
there would be no land, only dust; no water, only 
disassociated particles of moisture. We speak of this 
association of particles as the law of Attraction, 
Gravitation, Repulsion, etc., and this leads us to the 
consideration of what is Law and the basis of the 
movement of things. 

A law is an expression of Consciousness to Con- 
sciousness of a fixed method of doing things. A 
human law to be effectual must be intelligible, possi- 
ble of fulfillment, and made by a power able to en- 



132 The Thinking Universe 

force it; less than this we do not expect of Infinite 
Law; of more than this we cannot conceive. History 
shows us that from the beginning of recorded events 
Man has patterned his laws after those he attributed 
to the Being, or Beings, which he reverenced as 
Supreme. This indicates a universal impulse toward 
the doing of things in an orderly manner, and 
though these conceptions of Deity, Rightness, have 
varied from the period when might alone was right, 
up to the present day, when government by the con- 
sent of the governed is the established principle of 
lawmaking in all civilized countries, yet the fact that 
we have always been governed by laws of this sort 
proves that Man is moved to a greater or less extent 
by the Infinite Urge to Rightness. From this and 
from observation of the workings of Infinite law in 
Nature, we may postulate that Life, Mind, are 
synonymous with Rightness. This being the case, we 
must incline, though not force nor distort, our finite 
reasoning powers to the establishment in our Con- 
sciousness of the Rightness of everything that is 
Infinite. 

Let us then turn to the examination of Infinite law 
by the light of the principles predicated as essential 
in effective human laws. "LAW must be intelligi- 
ble." The green atom, or the combination of atoms 
which takes on a green color as its Consciousness, 



The Infinite as It Works in Nature 133 

knows that it is the law of its being to resist light; 
it is its Consciousness of Rightness. A dark green 
paper blind a sixteenth of an inch thick, if placed 
over the only aperture in a room intended to admit 
light, will effectually exclude it. Its power of what 
we call physical resistance is trivial as compared with 
the penetrating powei of light, which will shine 
through glass ten tiroes as thick and dense as the 
green paper. Indeed, *t has been demonstrated by 
scientists that light — whe&er it be a corpuscle emitted 
by the sun, or an ion of infinitesimal size which pro- 
duces light by agitating ether into waves — travels 
from the sun to the earth, ninety-three million miles, 
in eight minutes, or over 180,000 miles a second. The 
idea of this incomprehensible velocity being stopped 
by a "mere scrap" of green paper by physical force, 
is as absurd as would be the project of stopping an 
express train going at sixty miles an hour by a little 
pellet of paper put upon the track. Yet sound, which 
travels at a much less velocity than light, is not ex- 
cluded by the paper blind. Why? Because the Con- 
sciousness of the green atom, or the "green" Subcon- 
sciousness of the combination of atoms, its Mind 
power, is to resist light, though not sound, while the 
Subconsciousness of the atoms which compose the 
glass is to admit light. To these atoms the law of 
being opaque on one hand, and transparent on the 



134 Thd Thinking Universe 

other, is instantly intelligible and meets with instant 
obedience, and by creative fiat this Consciousness is 
made inviolable. If there were no opaque Conscious- 
ness or Subconsciousness there would be no dark- 
ness, no shade, apparently so necessary in the Infinite 
economy. The stone thrown into the air falls to the 
earth. Why? Because of the community impulse or 
Consciousness of the atoms composing the stone, and 
of the same Consciousness in the atoms composing the 
earth. This is called the Law of Gravitation, the 
desire of atoms to assemble themselves according to 
their kind and density. To them the Infinite law 
controlling their conduct is instantly intelligible; 
necessarily so, as is their instant obedience. To 
ensure the latter, Infinity has given them no power of 
choice, because if for an instant what we call the non- 
organic atoms were to hesitate or refuse to use all 
their inherent power to assemble themselves, that part 
of the Universe which we consider solid would in- 
stantly diffuse itself and there would be no place for 
organic life. Thus it is seen that in the Infinite 
economy the lowest order of Mind is constituted to 
develop the higher. Inorganic matter gives out in 
some instances noxious and deadly emanations. Why ? 
To develop the habit life of those things which draw 
their sustenance from it, thus aiding the higher devel- 
opment of such life. 



The Infinite as It Works in Nature 135 

We can readily understand that the Consciousnesses 
of the particles in the vegetable kingdom find the 
Infinite law concerning them instantly intelligible, and 
though the law gives them a wider scope they, too, 
are instantly responsive; the seed germinating, the 
plant, the tree growing, whenever the conditions are 
Right. If a wider choice were given to the vegetable 
atoms, if by consulting together they were able to "go 
on strike/' as it were, and refuse to germinate for 
two or three years, animal life would be deprived of 
its food and disappear. True, there are noxious and 
deadly vegetables, but their purpose is to train the 
animal life which feeds upon vegetables, to avoid 
them. Thus that which in itself seems to be useless 
and bad is shown to have its place in the development 
of animal life. Again we see this class of Conscious- 
ness so constituted as to develop the higher, and its 
limitations of Consciousness are seen to be just and 
necessary. 

In the animal kingdom also we can observe how 
instantly intelligible to all creatures not gifted with 
Reason is the law governing animal life, and without 
going into details find justification for the limitation 
of animal Consciousness to its present status. Believ- 
ing, as we do, and have done for many centuries, that 
Man has been given control by Infinite Law of all 
living things, it is impossible to conceive of animals 



136 The; Thinking Universe 

other than Man being gifted with Reason, which 
would have made it impossible for Man to dominate 
them. As it is, the higher animal Consciousness ap- 
proaches so nearly the lower human intelligence that 
it is possible for Man to make laws governing domes- 
tic animals. As far as a man can make himself intel- 
ligible to his dog or horse, the dog or horse obeys 
him. As in the mineral and vegetable kingdoms, so 
in the animal kingdom there are Consciousnesses which 
are noxious or deadly, and for the same reason — to 
develop the habit life of Man and brute alike. Thus 
animals gain an acuteness and an alertness in avoid- 
ing other animals dangerous to them, and Man also 
has his Consciousness developed by avoiding or over- 
coming dangerous animals. 

Man's capacity for understanding and obeying Infi- 
nite laws will be dealt with in a chapter on Human 
Consciousness. 



CHAPTER X. 

Man Can Understand Infinite Laws and Is 
Equipped to Take Care of Himself 

Now let us examine Man's capacity for under- 
standing and obeying Infinite laws. With the law 
which has to do with his origin, i. e., u the starting of 
him right," Man has nothing to do. He can only 
accept the fact that he is Alive ; that his Being is con- 
trolled by the same power that controls all other Ex- 
pressions of Life; that he has been brought to the 
degree of animal perfection at which he has arrived 
by the same processes that have brought about per- 
fection in other animals, vegetable and inorganic 
things, all of which Think but do not Reason. Man 
alone reasons. Thinking is that mental operation 
which causes action — action being merely the expres- 
sion of the thought. All Unreasoning Nature thinks 
as the Infinite intended it should think, and is con- 
sequently always right from the point of view of its 
Kind, for it is from this point of view that the Infinite 
causes it to think. Man, by the use of his Reason, 
must find his own Rightness ; i. e., must find a point 
of view from which he must think, act. All penalties 



138 The Thinking Universe 

for his failure to find the Best point of view — that 
point of view nearest to the Rightness at which he is 
intended to arrive — are of his own infliction. True, 
he is so constituted that he must penalize himself for 
his mistakes, but this is necessary in order to keep 
him from repeating them. Experience in this way 
teaches him, each time he uses his Reason and makes 
a decision, to get a little nearer Rightness. If his 
Reason does not do this, experience on this plane is a 
failure as far as he is concerned and he will have to 
wait until his environment is improved before he can 
expect the progress that he should make Here and 
Now. Looking about us we can see but few human 
specimens who can rightly be branded as failures 
Here and Now, and we can find their counterparts in 
Unreasoning Nature. As we attribute these latter 
failures to wrong breeding or bad environment, or 
both, so we must attribute similar failures in Reason- 
ing Life to the same causes, as both are developed by 
the same processes. 

The Infinite Expression we have accepted as a law 
is that which keeps our Expression right after it is 
started. This keeping of a thing "right" after it is 
made, means only the keeping it right after its 
Kind. The elemental atom — no matter how far back 
we have to go for it — is indestructible. The Infinite 
law makes it non-interchangeable; i. e., each Thing 



Man's Sslf-Equipment 139 

must develop as the thing it was Expressed to be. As 
we have seen, Infinity is simplicity itself, beginning 
everything in its simplest form, supplying it with the 
Urge to Rightness, and leaving it to its own develop- 
ment, a development which it accomplishes by part- 
nerships and combinations, often with millions of 
other atoms, each partnership or combination, how- 
ever, impelled by the Infinite Urge, attending to and 
perfecting its own organization. Its law that the 
Consciousness or Subconsciousness of each thing must 
be inviolable — absolutely free from the intrusion of 
any other Consciousness or Subconsciousness, even 
from Infinity itself — is a law which on examination is 
seen to be a marvel of simplicity. As we have already 
noted, Living, Being, is but a series of changes in the 
state of mind of each Thing that is. To preserve 
harmony, each change of the state of mind of every 
Thing is censored by the Infinite before it is allowed 
to take place. As there are countless billions, and 
billions, and billions of Things, each changing its 
state of mind every second, the task of censoring such 
changes would be too much for even Infinity itself if 
it were not for the law providing that each Thing 
shall start Right and stay Right. As we are aware, 
nobody can do two things at once any more than you 
can turn a grindstone two ways at once; such a pro- 
cess involves a contradiction of terms. The Infinite, 



140 Ths Thinking Universe 

as well as the finite, is incapable of doing that which 
is a contradiction of terms. If the Infinite were to 
censor the moral right or wrong of doing things It 
could attend to one thing, that is to one Conscious- 
ness, but no more, for adjusting the rightness and 
wrongness of things as we understand these terms 
would mean a perpetual sitting in judgment upon 
that which is only relative and not positive. But It 
does not do this. Every Thing is started right, after 
its Kind, and by the same creative fiat is compelled to 
stay right after its Kind, and there is nothing for the 
Infinite to do but automatically to inhibit every change 
of mind which would result in any change of Kind, 
i. e., the change of one Consciousness into another. 
This reduces the administrative task of the Infinite to 
the minimum — the doing of one thing, or rather the 
prevention of one thing. Man can and does under- 
stand this law, and does not attempt to change his 
Consciousness into some other Consciousness, for he 
knows it would be Impossible. 

The Expression of the Infinite law — the Infinite Urge 
to Rightness — works constantly and evenly in every 
Thing. Note that it works In every Thing. The 
Infinite Life, the Infinite Urge, is In every Thing, and 
from Within that Thing, as a part of the Conscious- 
ness or Subconsciousness of that Thing, urges it to 
Rightness. It does not urge it from WITHOUT; 



Man's Sslf-Equipmsnt 141 

that would be coercing the Consciousness, the 
stronger pressing upon the weaker. It urges it from 
WITHIN as a part of the Consciousness, and thus 
achieves the perfect democracy in control of all 
Things by the consent and co-operation of the Things. 
It works in Man the same way, but he alone can 
resist the Urge. He is a Consciousness, and as such 
cannot be interfered with. Reason is his Conscious- 
ness. It is Reason which differentiates him from 
other animals ; it is what causes him to be a Man. It 
is by Reason that he is to find out Rightness — the 
point of view from which he is to Think, Act. The 
Urge within him constantly suggests Rightness but 
does not compel it. In the tree the Urge suggests 
Rightness but does not compel it; it does not have 
to; the tree instantly accepts the suggestion, from the 
time when it was a seed until it reaches its perfection 
of development. It is to be feared that Man does not 
generally know of nor recognize this Urge. His 
failure to know and understand it in his present stage 
of development is largely owing to his education. 
Infinity, however, knows that Man cannot and will not 
continue to ignore or misunderstand this greatest 
Force within his Being. Man penalizes himself for 
his mistakes, but this is unavoidable as long as he 
makes mistakes. If Infinity made it impossible for 
him to make mistakes, nothing would be left to be 



142 The Thinking Universe 

done by his Reason and he would cease to be a man. 
Would it not, then, seem that the most important task 
of the human race is to develop its Reason to a 
RIGHTNESS OF ITS OWN FINDING? For this 
is what it must do, either Here and Now, or There 
and Then. 

Now let us glance at the mistaken education re- 
ferred to as causing Man to misunderstand himself 
to the extent of ignoring or misconstruing the Infi- 
nite Urge to Rightness within his Consciousness. 

Education is esteemed the shortest road to Experi- 
ence. By school education we expect to arrive at a 
knowledge of the experience acquired by our teachers 
and the writers of the text-books we use. The gradu- 
ate of a university too often regards himself as 
possessed of all the knowledge there is, excepting, of 
course, that possessed by specialists. Specialists, after 
they have graduated from a school teaching that which 
they have selected as their specialty, are too often 
satisfied with their knowledge of the subjects they 
have undertaken to master. With this Egoism we 
cannot well quarrel, as it is the Egoism of all Nature, 
each Consciousness being the center of Life to itself. 
It is when this Egoism becomes Egotism, which is 
ordinarily understood as a man's belief that he is better 
equipped than anyone of his kind, that we find it dis- 



Man's Self-Equipment 143 

agreeable. The egotist who "knows it all" quits rea- 
soning, and practically his education is at a standstill 
until by some rude bump he is awakened to the fact 
that he does not know it all. With the egoist it is 
different. He simply reasons that he knows as much 
as his kind needs to know, and as he finds he needs to 
know more, is prepared to learn more. He is in a 
receptive state of mind, and it does not take him long 
to become convinced that there is much that he needs 
to learn. He falls ill and sends for a physician — not 
to teach him how to get well and stay well, but merely 
to help him get well. He has always been taught that 
if a man is seriously sick he is helpless without a 
doctor or a healer of some sort, that all he can do is 
to take his medicine or treatments without question 
and hope for the best. He may know what caused 
his sickness or he may not. His doctor may know and 
he may not. Neither of them may know anything 
about the laws of causation any further back than 
overeating, overexertion, or exposure to the weather 
or contagion. The doctor is too busy or the patient 
too sick to go any further back than the conditions 
named. The patient may get well or may die. In 
either case the sickness becomes a closed incident, ex- 
cept in those cases where it is likely to recur under 
similar circumstances. Perhaps the patient in the 
weakness of his sickness feels a conviction of sin and 



144 The Thinking Universe 

he or his friends send for a priest or a clergyman, 
believing that a sense of sinfulness is best treated in 
that way. In both cases the cure hoped for is by 
Proxy. If the patient gets well the sense of sinfulness 
disappears, and that also becomes a closed incident. 

When the Devil was sick, the Devil a monk would be; 
When the Devil got well, the devil a monk was he. 

Again, the sick man may send for a lawyer to make 
his will, bequeathing a large share of his estate to 
the Church or to charity. This is esteemed a wise 
procedure by a very sick man with a "conviction of 
sin," as providing a certain insurance against fire in a 
"future state." If he dies, no one knows whether his 
insurance policy answers the purpose for which it was 
designed, but if he gets well his rule is to destroy the 
will at once, all immediate danger of fire being past. 

You may say, "Well, what is wrong about this?" 
It is not a question of the Tightness or wrongness of 
employing specialists in emergencies, but of the edu- 
cation which causes the emergencies. This work is by 
no means a crusade against Orthodoxy. Orthodoxy 
is an organized expression of those connected with a 
thing, as to the Tightness of conducting that thing. Or- 
thodox medical practitioners are those who conduct 
the practice of medicine in the way approved by the 
majority of their class. This is the result of the 
Urge to Rightness which impels us all to a greater or 



Man's Self-Equipment 1 45 

less extent. The orthodox lawyer is the one who ob- 
serves the "ethics of his profession." This, too, is the 
result of the Urge to Rightness. Orthodox religion 
is somewhat harder to define, but it may be said to be 
the observance of the religious forms considered 
necessary to the salvation of a man's soul — whatever 
that may mean — by each religious sect. In this way 
you may be an Orthodox Quaker, Methodist, Roman 
Catholic, Baptist, Presbyterian, Judaist, Episcopalian, 
Mohammedan, Confucian, Buddhist, or any other kind 
of Pagan that you see fit to be. Or, as is set forth 
in a verse popular during the vogue of Pinafore: 

He might have been a Quaker, 
A Methodist or Shaker, 

Or perhaps believed in hell; 
But in spite of all temptation 
To secure his soul's salvation, 

He remains an Infidel. 

Each expression of religious Orthodoxy is a mani- 
festation of the Infinite Urge to Rightness and of the 
law of Attraction, tending to the cohesion of things 
alike in their method of thinking — in these cases it 
cannot be said to be a likeness of reasoning, for 
Orthodox Religionists are proud in their denial that 
Reason has anything to do with their Faith. Of 
course this is impossible, as Faith is but Reason satis- 
fied and shaped by the Intangible, i. e., by something 
which comes to the reasoner by other avenue or ave- 
nues than his Experience and Senses. As Religion is 



146 The Thinking Universe 

an Expression of the Infinite Urge to Rightness, and 
as this Urge is the same in all instances, in all Nature, 
the differences in its Expression can only be accounted 
for by the extent to which Reason shapes its manifes- 
tations. In the absence of Reason all Unreasoning 
Nature does the right thing according to the law of 
its species, and in the absence of Reason Man would 
do the same thing ; but such a condition is impossible, 
as in the absence of Reason Man would not be 
Man, but an automaton in Rightness, as is the tree. 
Thus we can only account for the widely divergent 
"faiths" of the numerous religious sects by accepting 
the fact that "faiths" vary as the reasonings — uncon- 
scious perhaps — of the adherents of the various 
"faiths," vary. In one thing alone do they all ap- 
pear to agree — that Man is of himself unable to 
secure His Own Salvation. This is the doctrine of 
HELPLESSNESS. It is against this doctrine that 
The Thinking Universe necessarily directs its crusade. 
The prayers of all religious suppliants alike are 
directed to some outside personage — a personage 
whom they do not and dare not try to understand, 
but a Something or Somebody whom they are all 
taught to Fear. Thus we are brought to the conclu- 
sion that all Orthodoxies teach the doctrines of un- 
reasoning Helplessness and Fear; that the Infinite 
will hurt us if we do not "watch out" — probably if 



Man's Self-Equipment 147 

we do "watch out" — and that we are helpless to pre- 
vent this, though there is an alluring chance that by 
supplications, offerings — burnt and otherwise — and 
following certain lines of conduct, we may escape with 
a thorough singeing instead of eternal roasting. Noth- 
ing could be further from the truth as we have found 
it in our examinations of Infinite laws and their 
workings in all Nature. The acceptance of such doc- 
trines, more than anything else, has prevented Man 
from realizing and utilizing the INFINITE URGE 
TO RIGHTNESS WITHIN HIMSELF. Mark 
that the Infinite Urge to Rightness comes from the 
Infinite Life WITHIN Man, not from outside of him. 
If it worked from outside of his Consciousness it 
would be coercion, the stronger pressing upon the 
weaker, thus robbing him of his Free Will. The 
Infinite knows no coercion, and one of its elemental 
laws is the non-interference with any Consciousness 
except at its own request. As we have seen, Man and 
every other Thing is filled to his or its fulness by 
Omnipresent Infinite Life, which works IN Man as a 
part of his Consciousness. According to Infinite law, 
as we have seen it, this is the only possible connection 
there can be between Man and Infinity; i. e., Man's 
connection with the Infinite within himself. Then 
Man can only appeal successfully to the Infinite with- 
in himself, and if he appreciates this and only knows 



148 The Thinking Universe 

how to make the appeal he can have "whatsoever he 
(consciously) wills." This implies Man's possession 
within himself of a full equipment for every emerg- 
ency. What we are seeking is an understanding of 
how to use this equipment. To succeed in this search 
we must at once and for ever disassociate ourselves 
from the doctrines of Helplessness and Fear. This is 
the destructive part of our work. Now let us turn to 
the constructive part. 

Where do you "go" when you "go" to sleep? 
Where do you "go" when you "go" crazy? Where 
does the light "go" when it "goes" out? Where does 
the sound "go" when it "dies away"? Where does 
the darkness "go" when it "disappears" ? Where does 
power "go" when it ceases to impel an object which 
is turned back or propelled in a different direction? 
Into the Infinite. Into Stillness. Into Equilibrium. 
Where is this Infinite, Stillness, Equilibrium? Every- 
where. It is Omnipresent, Unexpressed Life. "But," 
you say, " 'going' implies a change from one place to 
another." Not necessarily. It more frequently means 
"going" from one state of mind into another. This 
does not involve a change of location, but of condi- 
tion. When we go to sleep we simply change our 
state of mind. We merge our reasoning Conscious- 
ness into our Supraconsciousness — the Infinite Life 
within us. We have seen that Living is merely a 



Man's Self-Equipmsnt 149 

continuous changing of states of mind. When we go 
to sleep, then, we go into a sleeping state of mind; 
i. e., our Reasoning Consciousness merges into our 
Supraconsciousness. Where else could it go? We do 
not need a Reasoning Consciousness while it is in 
Supraconsciousness, as our Reasoning Consciousness 
is that by which we find Rightness, and when this 
is merged in Rightness itself, the Infinite Life within 
ourselves, its office is suspended until something 
awakes us and it resumes its domination of our Being. 
While merged in the Supraconsciousness — Infinite 
Life, Supreme Stillness, Absolute Repose — it Rests. 
Upon the complete temporary merging of these two 
Consciousnesses depends the amount of rest we obtain 
in sleep. You do not need to be a physician to know 
that there is nothing more curative than a sound, 
dreamless, perfect sleep. This is a complete merging. 
If you go to sleep full of wine, rich food, or fever, 
your merging machinery is clogged and you sleep too 
near your Subconsciousness to obtain rest, and your 
dreams are filled with all sorts of disturbing things. 
This, hov/ever, will be dealt with later. When a man 
"goes" crazy his Reasoning Consciousness, finding the 
physical machinery with which it manifests itself in 
Time and Space, Here and Now, out of order, "goes" 
into the Infinite Stillness and abides there until the 
physical machinery is restored to proper working 



150 The Thinking Universe 

order. Thus when a man is said to "lose his reason" 
he does not lose it at all; it merely merges into his 
Supraconsciousness, into Repose, into the only safe 
place it could be, Rightness, and there awaits the re- 
storation of the physical machinery by which it ex- 
presses itself Here and Now. 

Where does the light "go" when it "goes" out, the 
sound when it "dies away," the darkness when it "dis- 
appears," but into Infinity? That which causes illu- 
mination, when its supply of material for combustion is 
exhausted Rests, ceases to be active, becomes Still. It 
changes its State of Mind. Between one state of 
mind and another state of mind there can be nothing 
but the Infinite, and into this everything goes, and 
when in It rests, if it be only for an instant of time, 
and not an interval of time, as in sleep. So the state 
of mind expressing sound changes into a state of Still- 
ness, and the state of mind expressed by darkness 
fades away in the presence of a state of mind express- 
ing Illumination. Action involves exhaustion, com- 
parative or complete. Expressed Life, being always 
in motion, would exhaust itself were it not continually 
going into Stillness and finding rest. This is obvious, 
and it is thus seen that every change of mind not only 
includes the possibility of the censorship by the Infinite 
of that change of mind, but also includes a rest before 
Power starts in the new direction involved by a change 



Man's Sklf-Equipment ]51 

of state of mind. How wondrously simple, how abso- 
lutely perfect is the law of the Infinite as seen in this 
light ! Could there be a nobler, grander, more sub- 
lime conception of "GOD"— the INFINITE— than of 
THAT into which all tired Nature pours itself for 
rest? The call of the Infinite to every Thing is, 
"Come unto me ye that are weary and heavy-laden 
and I will give you rest/' O thou human Thing, thou 
weak and weary one, thou sick and suffering one, 
harken to this call, as does all Unreasoning Nature, 
and thou shalt find Peace. 

Man, when he is tired, seeks repose — Stillness of 
Body, Quietness as to reasoning what he will do next. 
He does not always seek sleep when weary; some- 
times bodily repose is sufficient. But a mere cessation 
of bodily activity does not always bring repose; the 
Reason must cease its activity before he can obtain 
rest. When we cease to reason, and drop into the 
Subconscious, our Being is conducted on the basis of 
Habit Life; we become mere resting animals. If we 
go into the Supraconsciousness for repose we are at 
the fountain in which all rest is found — the Infinite. 
Our bodies rest, our Consciousnesses rest : this is 
what is meant by going into Stillness. In the Still- 
ness, our bodies relaxed, our reasoning faculties 
merged into the Supraconscious — the Infinite — that 
thought which we took with us into Stillness becomes 



152 Ths Thinking Universe: 

the Urge of our whole Being, which proceeds to ad- 
just itself to the making of that thought a Thing. If 
our thought in going into that Stillness was Rest, then 
our whole Being proceeds to make that thought a 
Thing, and that thing Rest, and we become rested. 
With other things it is the same. If we go into Still- 
ness with the thought of Bodily Wholeness we find it, 
though perhaps not as readily as we find rest. Recov- 
ery from sickness is a slower process than rest from 
weariness. To obtain recovery we may have to go into 
Stillness very often before harmony can be induced in 
our whole Being. As has already been shown, the 
Subconsciousness, the Habit Life, in the case of sick- 
ness has, owing to some cause, established an abnor- 
mal standard of Rightness, from which it must be 
separated and brought to the standard of Rightness 
provided by our Reason before our Being can become 
harmonious — well. Of one thing, however, we may be 
sure : the instant we make a call upon the Infinite 
with our Reason, made Positive in its Rightness — i. e,. 
with the Reason fully convinced that its call will be 
answered — the Urge of the Infinite causes that thing 
for which we ask to move towards our realization. 

It may be as well to anticipate a question that may 
arise in the mind of the reader as to why we should 
have to "go" into the Infinite for rest or what we 
desire, as we are always in the Infinite, it being Omni- 



Man's Sslf-Equipment 153 

present — Everywhere. True, we are always in the Infi- 
nite, but we are not always CONSCIOUSLY in the 
Infinite. The Infinite never changes ; its Urge to 
Rightness is always working within us. To be bene- 
fited by the Urge we must "go" into a receptive state 
of mind, i. e., become Conscious that we are awaiting 
the Urge, and that while we are awaiting the Urge we 
are holding the thought of that which we desire. If 
we do not "go" into this receptive state of mind we 
are not opening our Consciousness to admit the Urge 
and we do not receive the benefit it would otherwise 
confer. 



CHAPTER XL 

Looking Again at What Wt Have: Sesn — A Review 
of Our Reasonings. 

The ground over which we have come in our rea- 
sonings, at the outset was familiar to none of us, 
while it was absolutely new and unexplored territory 
to the great majority. The task of studying the Infi- 
nite may have been appalling to some, to none could 
it have appeared easy; to those who have followed 
these reasonings thus far it cannot seem to be by any 
means impossible. Difficulties have not developed, but 
faded away, and the wondrous simplicity of the ways 
of the Infinite has startled us lest the ease with which 
we comprehend them may only indicate that we are 
on the wrong track. Lest this be the case, let us 
pause for a moment while we look- about us and make 
new observations that we may be reassured as to the 
Tightness of our course. We find ourselves accepting 
Infinite Life and Infinite Mind as synonymous, ante- 
rior to which nothing was nor could have been. We 
find it to be an eternal, indivisible Unit, Omnipresent, 
Omnipotent, Omniscient, which was Alone when it 
first Expressed itself, and as Infinite Life is still 



A Review of Our Reasonings 1 55 

Alone. Its first Expression we have found to be the 
polarization of itself ; i. e., the causing of its Negative 
characteristics, as such, to have a relation to its Posi- 
tivity — its equilibrium, its poise, its Unalterable Still- 
ness. This was the advent of motion, and all Ex- 
pressed Life became then, and still is, Motion. By the 
adjustment of the velocity of this motion to the pur- 
poses to be served, various Constrictions or Conscious- 
nesses were formed in Expressed Life — in Motion 
Life — and these, being the fiat of the Infinite, became 
eternal, unchangeable, as their Expressor is eternal and 
unchangeable. These elemental Consciousnesses, or 
elemental Atoms, indestructible, indivisible at their 
nearest approach to the point at which they became 
Things, have by various combinations and partner- 
ships formed themselves into the multifarious Expres- 
sions of Life we see about us. These partnerships 
and combinations, whether simple or complex, we 
recognize as ephemeral, i. e., liable to a change of 
form or to disappear altogether from our observation 
in order that the atoms composing them may form 
new combinations and partnerships of superior useful- 
ness or beauty. We find that all the organizations of 
the atoms in Expressed Life are left in their progress 
to perfection entirely to their own devices, except that 
the Infinite Urge within them all impels them mightily 
to the achievement of the supreme excellence of their 



156 The Thinking Universe 

Kind. We never find the supreme Urge of the Infi- 
nite coercing a Consciousness, but always working 
within it and as a part of it towards the greatest per- 
fection achievable. For these reasons we have con- 
cluded that the Infinite works on the basis of one law 
only, which involves the starting of every Thing Right 
and the keeping of every Thing Right by protecting 
it from coercion or intrusion by another Conscious- 
ness or Subconsciousness, or by Infinity itself. The 
Universal Urge to Rightness of every Consciousness 
or Subconsciousness is the only way the Infinite afifects 
all Things. This causes the making of every possible 
partnership and combination of atoms necessary to 
the production of variety and perfection. 

By this law alone Infinity, as Infinity, appears to 
work. In the terms of Time and Space, not tech- 
nically applicable to the Infinite, we may subdivide 
this law into (1) The Law of what Was, (2) The 
Law of what Is, and (3) The Law of what Is to Be. 
Other laws expressing the relation of Infinite to Ex- 
pressed Life we have not found traceable in Nature 
or deduceable by reasoning, and therefore have con- 
cluded that these stand as Elemental and Alone. From 
the standpoint of the Infinite these three laws are but 
one law — the Law of Rightness. For the time being 
we will consider them from the viewpoint of Here 
and Now in order the better to comprehend the Infi- 



A Review of Our Reasonings 157 

nite law which their workings express, and because 
this arrangement harmonizes so completely with the 
three laws of the Human Consciousness, viz., (1) 
What Has Been, (2) What Is, and (3) What Is To 
Be. 

The two classes of Expressed Life — Reasoning and 
Unreasoning Life — are alike controlled by these laws 
only. The only difference in the control is that the 
Infinite Urge acts in Unreasoning Life from an es- 
tablished, a set, Point of Rightness in every Con- 
sciousness. From this "set" point every unreasoning 
Consciousness automatically works Rightness toward 
the perfection of its Kind. In Reasoning Life, Rea- 
son is left to find its own Point of Rightness, the Infi- 
nite Urge always impelling it and, when requested, 
guiding in the search for it. Because of this obvious 
arrangement we have concluded that the Infinite, 
which cannot be set at naught, will ultimately cause 
Reasoning Life to arrive at a Rightness of Its Own 
Finding. As Man is the only Reasoning Being we 
have concluded that Reason is an elemental, inde- 
structible Consciousness, and the Supraconsciousness 
(the Infinite within the Ego) and the Subconscious- 
ness (the expressional power of the Ego) are not 
ephemeral, and the Ego, made up of these three, will 
have all eternity in which to arrive at Rightness of Its 
Own Finding. It has also been assumed that Man 



158 The Thinking Universe 

being, as far as is known, the supreme Expression of 
Infinity because of his possession of Reason, Reason 
is therefore the superlative Expression of Infinity, and 
is next to Infinity itself. Because of this obvious 
deduction we have been encouraged to employ our 
Reason in seeking out the purposes and methods of 
Infinity. At the outset we found our only equipment 
for seeking out these purposes and methods to be 
Reason, and by many it may have been feared to have 
been insufficient. In employing it, however, we have 
found that the quality of the human mind is the same 
as that of the Infinite mind except that it is con- 
stricted by its Consciousness — Reason. As our rea- 
soning powers have expanded we have found our- 
selves approaching with startling nearness to the Infi- 
nite mind, which works in every way as our minds 
will work when our Consciousnesses — Reason — have 
arrived at the Rightness of Their Own Finding, which 
is the task set for them. We have also seen how 
Theologians, by ignoring the all-important part Rea- 
son has in shaping Faith, and how scientists, who 
have ignored the Infinite and its Urge as an equation 
in their calculations, have both contributed to the 
hiding of THE LIGHT from Man. No better illus- 
tration has been found of the ignoring of the Infinite 
in the equations of the scientists than the declaration 
of Physics that "all life is motion." All Expressed 



A Review of Our Reasonings 159 

Life is motion, but Infinite Life is Stillness, Equilib- 
rium, Repose. In the first place, Infinite Life, filling 
everything, has nowhere to move. Expressed Life 
has a "where" to move. Motion implies the going of 
something from a given point towards some other 
given point. No matter how great the velocity of this 
motion there must be an instant of time between its 
departure and arrival. When we introduce the in- 
stant of time we at once inhibit the idea of Infinity, 
which knows neither Time nor Space. If the velocity 
of the motion were so great that its departure from a 
given point and its arrival at a given point, or its 
return in a circle to the point of starting, had no 
separating instant of time, there could have been no 
departure and there could have been no arrival, and 
there could have been no motion. This is the condi- 
tion of Infinite Life, for, being everywhere, that which 
starts from itself would always be within itself and 
would always be everywhere at the same instant. 
This makes motion unnecessary to Infinite Life, and 
to our reasoning impossible. It may be true that 
physicists have recognized the quality of Stillness as 
being inherent in Motion. If so, they have the cart 
before the horse, as Motion is inherent in Stillness, 
all Motion emanating from the latter. Thus it will be 
seen that the scientists, by refusing to admit the Infi- 
nite in their equations, have been unable to arrive at 



160 The: Thinking Universe 

absolute Rightness. Theologians, on the other hand, 
by denying the superlative place that Reason occupies 
in Expressed Life, have been found pottering over 
the sayings of men who lived in ages much less en- 
lightened than the present, and giving to them abso- 
lute finality as revelations of "God's will to Man." 
In this way Theologians have assumed to be the 
proper interpreters of God's laws as found in the 
Sacred Writings. If by "God's laws" is meant the 
laws of the Infinite, we have found that the Infinite 
has nothing to do with moral or so-called religious 
laws except in its urging of Reason towards a Right- 
ness of Its Own Finding; that while it censors every 
change of one state of mind to another state of mind 
it allows the human mind to change from a state of 
honesty into one of dishonesty, from a state of kind- 
ness into a murderous state; that it passes as readily 
a change of mind involving a departure from Right- 
ness as it does one going towards Rightness. This 
leaves so-called Divine laws as simply the expression 
by Reason of the Urge to Rightness, which men have 
felt at various times and with varying degrees of 
clarity. When Theologians allow Reason its super- 
lative place in Expressed Life they will have arrived 
much nearer Rightness than they are now, and we 
will hear no more of the inconceivable barbarities of 
torture to be inflicted as the penalty of the Infinite 



A Review of Our Reasonings 161 

upon those who displease "Him" or have omitted to 
take advantage, either personally or by proxy, of the 
cruelly grotesque and unnatural expiation of their 
"sins" by His Son on the Cross. 

At the outset, in order that the reader might not 
be turned from the subject by too much abstract rea- 
soning, it was thought well to assume as true such 
generally accepted principles as the indivisible unity 
of Infinite Life, its Omnipotence, Omnipresence, and 
Omniscience, but now we might as well satisfy our- 
selves by examining the ground on which this general 
acceptance has been based. The beginning of every- 
thing must be a unit, and we have taken Life as the 
Elemental Unit of the Universe because anything 
prior to Life is inconceivable; it would require to be 
something without life. A condition of "deadness" — 
in itself impossible — could not be conceived unless 
there had been a prior condition of life; and again it 
would be inconceivable to think of a "dead" thing 
projecting Infinite Life — the less cannot produce the 
greater. We have accepted Infinite Life and Infinite 
Mind as synonymous. If Life, as the Elemental Unit 
of the Universe, had been devoid of Intelligence, 
Mind, it could not have produced Mind. As that 
which is without thought cannot think, Life could 
not think Mind. On the other hand, Mind, Infinite 
Life, could not have existed prior to Life, and there- 



162 The Thinking Universe 

fore could not think Life. For these reasons it is 
obvious that Life and Mind are different names for 
the same thing. The Unit of the Universe, therefore, 
is Life, Mind. It was the Universe and is still the 
Universe, nothing- co-existing with it when it was the 
Unit, and nothing having been brought into it from 
elsewhere, as there is no elsewhere, and there could 
have been no things. Therefore all Things are the 
Expressions of Mind, or produced by Mind of Mind, 
and are still Mind, and have the faculty of Mind, that 
of Thinking. Again let us recall the fact that Think- 
ing and Reasoning are entirely different processes — 
that the whole Universe thinks, but Man alone rea- 
sons. Everything thinks with its whole Being; Man 
reasons with his intellectual faculties and thinks with 
his whole normal Being. It is obvious, then, that Life 
is Omnipresent, being Everywhere, Everything. Be- 
ing Everywhere and Everything, and the Expressor 
of all that has been Expressed, it must know every- 
thing — this is Omniscience. Being everywhere and 
knowing everything, it must have all power. We 
judge it as we judge of a man's power by his favor- 
able situation and his possessions, including knowl- 
edge. So it seems obvious to us that Life, possessing 
everything, knowing everything, being everywhere, 
must be Omnipotent. 



A Review of Our Reasonings 163 

Having fortified ourselves by this review of what 
we have gone over, in which we have found no cause 
to question the Tightness of our conclusions, let us 
return with freshened zeal to a consideration of 
Man's relation to the Infinite within himself, for that 
is the only relation he can have to the Infinite, as we 
have seen that the Infinite, by its own elemental fiat, 
makes it impossible for itself to work with or upon 
any Consciousness except from within and as a part 
of that Consciousness. 



CHAPTER XII. 

Infinite Law Unbreakable— A Man Cannot Con- 
sciously Act Unless at the Moment of Ac- 
tion He Decides He is Right. 

It is most important at this stage of our study that 
we should settle as a finality that the Infinite works 
only from within us in its operations concerning us. 
Its gentle Urge, always impelling us to Rightness, 
works within us as it works in all unreasoning things. 
There are no exceptions of Kind, or Time, or Place. 
Let us use as an illustration of this a case selected 
from one of the lower animals. Not infrequently 
sows devour their young, sometimes eating a whole 
litter before their offspring can be removed from their 
reach. This seems to be a case where all the laws of 
Nature are disregarded, yet the Infinite Life which 
censors every change of state of mind in every variety 
of Expressed Life does not inhibit the change of a 
maternal instinct into a state of ravenous appetite as 
it would have to do if, from within the animal's Con- 
sciousness, it prevented her destruction of her pro- 
geny. To prevent it from without, the Infinite would 
have to spirit away the young pigs or muzzle the 



Infinite Law Unbreakable 165 

mother. Neither operation takes place, unless the 
swine-breeder attends to that which can be done out- 
side of the animal's Consciousness. Yet the law of 
Urge to Rightness is seen to work perfectly. If the 
sow is not interfered with she extinguishes her pro- 
geny and there is no danger of her abnormal appetite 
being transmitted to her Kind. This is the working 
of the law from within, and it is seen to cover the 
case without any interference. No manifestation of 
power from without could have anything approaching 
the finality of extinguishing the swinish lust which 
otherwise might be transmitted. We cannot imagine 
in this revolting incident any "miraculous" removal 
of the progeny or the muzzling of the unnatural 
mother. The Universe is organized on a different 
plan, and, as we have before noticed, the Infinite itself 
could not attend to an administration of its laws in- 
volving any such "miracles" as have been suggested, 
as the Infinite, like the finite Mind, can attend to only 
one thing at a time, and while protecting the sow's 
litter with a "miracle" would have to neglect the rest 
of the Universe. 

Let us take another example of the operations of 
law from Within and Without. You are living in a 
rented house that is so badly in need of repair that 
you refuse to pay your month's rent until a better- 
ment is made. Your landlord by process of law 



166 Ths Thinking Universe 

seizes your household goods and thus forces you to 
pay. While resenting the injustice, you settle the 
debt. This is the application of force. The body you 
occupy at present is out of repair and you refuse to 
pay the tribute of praise and gratitude to God for an 
unhealthy body, which your religious education has 
taught you is His due. This mental attitude, you 
have been taught, is liable to cause the seizure of your 
body by a still worse sickness. If it is the Infinite 
Law that you be so punished you cannot hope to 
escape, for Infinite Law cannot be evaded and works 
with absolute and invariable certainty in every case. 
If you pause for a moment, you will remember that 
in dozens, perhaps hundreds of instances you have 
felt, and probably expressed, "ingratitude" of this 
sort, and yet you have not been "seized" by a worse 
sickness. Then the "Law" has failed to work in your 
case and has demonstrated that it is not a law at all. 
When your body is feeling perfectly well after an 
attack of sickness you are disposed to feel grateful 
and to give thanks for your health, and you feel better 
and stronger that you have done this. This is the 
Law working from within. Your "ingratitude" was 
caused by your Reason refusing to act when called 
upon to give thanks for something undesirable. Your 
"gratitude" was caused by the Urge to Rightness 
moving your Reason to give thanks for something 



Infinite Law Unbreakable 167 

deserving thanks. This latter state of mind benefited 
you, as you are always benefited by obeying the Urge 
to Rightness within you. The "ingratitude" may 
have injured you and made you feel worse, because 
you resented what you thought was the uncalled-for 
action of the Infinite in making you ill, and an un- 
reasonable state of mind is always detrimental to 
health. The Infinite had nothing to do with your 
sickness. Consciously or Subconsciously you were 
entirely to blame, and furthermore, you are always to 
blame when your Reason does not work for Right- 
ness. It is an axiom of common law that "ignorance" 
of the law furnishes no excuse. When we arrive at 
the point of appreciating our responsibility we will 
lose no opportunity of learning the Law of our Being 
in order that we may obey it. It would be easy to 
pile up evidence that Infinite Law does not inflict 
penalties from outside of the Human Consciousness. 
From childhood we have heard of "Ananias and 
Sapphira his wife," who fell dead because they lied. 
Doubtless we have all been taught alike that this was 
the penalty inflicted by the Infinite for telling delib- 
erate untruths. Doubtless we have all alike, though 
in a vague and general way, decided that there was 
nothing in it, for we all know how prevalent lying is 
and always has been, and have never heard of an 
authenticated case of a similar punishment being in- 



168 The Thinking Universe 

flicted on the liar. If every person who told a lie 
dropped dead, the population of the earth would be 
thinned down in an hour as the most devastating 
plague has never yet reduced it in years of a preva- 
lent and deadly scourge. We know, too, that death is 
an unreasonable penalty for such an offence as telling 
an untruth — fortunately for the majority of people it 
is not even a jailable offence in the eyes of those who 
make our criminal laws. The punishment for lying 
comes from within our Consciousness, and we feel 
ashamed and cheap in the quiet moments when mem- 
ory recalls some deliberate untruth of which we have 
been guilty and Reason turns it over and over again 
in its mental stomach, and the Infinite Urge to Right- 
ness causes us to promise ourselves not to repeat the 
performance. Somehow we know we did not break 
an Infinite law, yet we do not know how we know it, 
for we have all been very nebulous in our ideas of 
Infinite Law. We know we were not struck dead for 
doing it, and probably that is the basis of our dis- 
belief in the existence of an Infinite law against lying. 
At this point we may as well recognize the fact that 
AN INFINITE LAW CANNOT BE BROKEN. 

We have seen that Infinite Life censors every 
change of one state of mind into another state of 
mind, and of course can prevent any action — every 
action is the result of the changing of one state of 



Infinite; Law Unbreakable 169 

mind into another state of mind — transgressing its 
law. If Infinity had seen fit to enact so-called moral 
or religious laws they would have been of the un- 
changing, universal Rightness of Infinity itself, and It 
would have seen to their enforcement; breaking such 
laws would be impossible, and this would have robbed 
Man of his "Free Will/' of the opportunity of exer- 
cising his Reason, and he would have ceased to be a 
man, or rather he never would have been a man; he 
would be a righteous automaton, in no sense more 
responsible or uplifted than the highest type of ani- 
mal or tree. It may occur to you that the Infinite 
Urge to Rightness, being an Infinite law, cannot, 
therefore, be resisted. "How T then," you may ask, "do 
you account for the ignoring or resisting by the 
Human Consciousness of this Infinite Urge, as it must 
ignore or resist it when it does a wrong thing?" The 
Infinite Urge cannot be ignored or resisted in what it 
sets out to do, but w T e must be very careful properly 
to understand the office of the Infinite Urge. It has 
already been shown that the Urge bears alike upon 
all Expressed Life; that it COERCES No Thing, 
CO-OPERATES with Every Thing. The Urge is 
to the Rightness of each Thing — towards the perfec- 
tion of each Thing according to its Kind. Mark this : 
The Urge is that which moves each Thing in an up- 
lift towards becoming the best Thing of its Kind of 



170 The: Thinking Universe 

Thing. This Urge is No Where and In No Thing 
resisted or ignored. Right and Wrong, as we ordi- 
narily use the words, do not apply to the Rightness 
which has to do only with the greatest achievement 
possible of a Thing as its KIND of Thing. Right- 
ness here is Positive, not Relative, and has nothing to 
do with Morals or Religion. Morals have to do with 
the relation between members of the human species ; 
the word Religion is used to express the relation be- 
tween Man and his Maker. Infinity does not inter- 
fere in these relations. If the Urge forced men to be 
right in these respects it is unnecessary to repeat that 
they would cease to be men and become automatons. 
As will shortly be shown, these relations depend en- 
tirely upon human Reason. The Urge to Rightness 
as it affects Man bears upon his perfection as an ani- 
mal and upon his perfection as a REASONING 
BEING. The relation of the Urge to Man as an 
animal is identical with its relation to every other Con- 
sciousness. Its relation to Man as a REASONING 
BEING is that of a power which prevents him con- 
sciously doing anything that at the moment of action 
his Reason decides is not right for HIM to do. This 
brings us face to face with the fact that IT IS AS 
IMPOSSIBLE FOR MAN CONSCIOUSLY TO 
DO ANYTHING WHICH AT THE MOMENT 
OF ACTION HIS REASON DECIDES IS NOT 



Infinite Law Unbreakable 171 

RIGHT FOR HIM TO DO, AS IT IS FOR HIM 
TO CHANGE FROM BEING A MAN INTO A 
MONKEY OR A TREE. We now see still more 
vividly the supreme place Reason occupies in Ex- 
pressed Life. Infinity does not coerce the Human 
Consciousness into any set line of Rightness — that 
would rob a man of his Free Will, individuality, of 
his status as a man, and make him automatic in the 
set line of Rightness provided by the Infinite. What 
the Infinite does force the Human Consciousness — 
REASON — to do, is to make a decision before it can 
Consciously act, and that decision must be in accord- 
ance with what the Consciousness — REASON — at 
the moment of action declares to be RIGHT. Note 
the difference between "Consciously" acting and 
" Subconsciously" acting. Our Subconscious, our 
Habit Life, which is in charge of the things we do 
repetitionally, such as breathing, digesting, the circu- 
lation of our blood, the action of our muscles and 
nerves, in fact of all those things we call our auto- 
matic processes, does its work without reference to 
our reasoning Consciousnesses, and the reasoning Con- 
sciousness does not interfere with these processes 
when they are carried on with the perfection char- 
acteristic of a Subconsciousness in a normal, that is to 
say a healthy, condition. Those changes in our states 
of mind which call upon Reason for a decision as to 



1 72 The Thinking Universe 

what our state of mind shall be at the moment of 
action, are what we call Conscious changes. These 
Conscious changes are what we call decisions as to 
what is Right and what is Wrong for US ; i. e., what 
is the best thing for US to do. Thus we are forced 
to exercise our Reason in what it declares at the mo- 
ment of action to be Right, before we Consciously 
act. This, then, makes Reason the censor of every 
Conscious action. In this regard it occupies the same 
place in the Ego that Infinite Life occupies in every 
change of one state of mind into another state of 
mind in the processes of every Thing in Expressed 
Life. Thus Reason, if it refuses to sanction any 
Conscious action, inhibits that action. 

This forcing of Reason to censor all the Conscious 
actions of the Ego is obviously for the purpose of 
forcing Man so continually to exercise his Reason as 
ultimately to enable him by experience to arrive at a 
RIGHTNESS OF HIS OWN FINDING. We have 
long known that we must come to a decision, i. e., 
our Reason must settle upon the course to be pur- 
sued, before it releases its "clutch" — the Will — and 
permits the mechanism of our Being Consciously to 
act. The view that the Reason at the moment of 
action must consider itself RIGHT has not hitherto 
been distinctly stated. On the other hand, it has been 
generally held that we are capable of deliberately 



Infinite Law Unbreakable 173 

doing a "Wrong" thing, knowing and deciding it to 
be wrong for US to do at the moment of action. 
Note carefully the "for US" to do, for we often do 
things which at the moment of action we decide are 
right for US to do, while at the same time holding a 
very decided opinion that the same act done TO US 
would be unqualifiedly Wrong. It is in this way that 
the Egoism of every Expression of Life declares it- 
self. As has been previously stated, this Egoism, 
when manifested by the Infinite, is the Law of Right- 
ness itself — the one Law of the Infinite. Each Ex- 
pression of Life, each Thing, represents the Infinite 
and to itself IS the Infinite, and assumes the Egoism, 
the Rightness of the Infinite. In Unreasoning Nature 
this is justifiable, insomuch as each Thing acts with 
the automatic Rightness set for it by the Infinite. In 
Reasoning Nature the Infinite has obviously declared 
that each Consciousness shall act, and act ONLY 
from a Rightness set by that Consciousness at the 
moment of action. This of course is justifiable from 
the Infinite point of view, insomuch as everything 
must be done in accordance with the Urge to Right- 
ness, each Thing after the RIGHTNESS OF ITS 
KIND. The RIGHTNESS OF ITS KIND of the 
Human Consciousness is obviously that which it fixes 

as such at the moment of Conscious action. In this 
way the Infinite Law is obeyed, both as to Rightness 



174 The Thinking Universe 

and as to the preservation of Man's Individuality— 
his Free Will. That Man always justifies the choice 
given him of finding His Own Rightness is not so 
apparent, but on examination it is seen that he would 
otherwise have no opportunity of gaining the experi- 
ence necessary to arrive at a perfect Rightness of His 
Own Finding — a destiny which at every turn of these 
studies becomes more obviously the condition for 
which he is being prepared. 

Now let us examine the grounds upon which we 
have based the assumption that at the moment of 
acting the Reason must decide that it — the Conscious- 
ness — is doing the right thing for IT to do, before 
the act can be performed. As before stated, we have 
all known, though perhaps not appreciated, the fact 
that the Reason must decide as to what is to be done 
before it releases its "clutch" — the Will — and our 
Being is permitted to think, i. e., act. It is our Rea- 
son that decides that we will walk before we Think 
walking, i. e., act walking — walk. We do not think 
that we will rise up from our chair until our Reason 
has decided that the RIGHT thing at that moment is 
to rise up. Then we Think rising up, i. e., we rise up. 
If our Reason decides that it is the wrong thing for 
us to rise up, we of course do not think rising up,* and 
remain in our seat. Circumstances may be such that 
at one moment we decide to rise up, but before our 



Infinite Law Unbreakable 1 75 

state of mind has changed into a "rising up state of 
mind" our Reason decides that we will not rise up. 
At one moment our Reason may favor one course of 
procedure, while at the next moment it decides on 
the opposite course, and a moment after returns to its 
original impulse, and at the next moment changes 
again. This is what we call the working of our spirit- 
ual digestive apparatus, the weighing of the "pros" 
and "cons," the considering of the arguments for and 
against any proposed action. When Reason finally 
decides that a certain course of procedure is the 
right one, then we think, act, follow that course of 
procedure. 

Let us take a more serious example. A man's Rea- 
son is debating whether he shall commit a theft or 
leave the coveted object untouched. The Urge to 
Rightness within him tells him that the coveted thing 
is not his, that he has no right to it, that he would 
resent the stealing of a thing from HIM, and he 
decides that he will not steal the thing. His Subcon- 
sciousness, his Habit Life, tells him that everything is 
his that he can "get away with," that the cheats, the 
impostors, the frauds who constitute so large a pro- 
portion of his business acquaintances, are all thieves, 
and he might as well be a thief as any of the rest of 
them. He takes another look at the coveted object 
and decides he will take it. As he moves towards it 



176 The Thinking Universe 

he is stricken with fear. What will happen to him if 
he is discovered? He will be sent to jail, disgraced. 
He decides not to take it. Another look at the coveted 
object and he is again filled with a longing for its 
possession. He argues that there is no danger of him 
being discovered. No one is looking. No one will 
know he has been there. Others will be suspected. 
That he wants it so badly, he argues, gives him a title 
to it. Why should HE not take a thing which was 
evidently designed to be HIS or he would not have 
such a consuming desire for it? Everything good 
was intended for HIM. He would make a better use 
of it than anyone else. It would not be wrong for 
HIM to take it, because it would do HIM so much 
good. At this point he takes it, because he has decided 
that it would not be wrong, but right, for HIM to 
take it. He did not take it when he thought of being 
sent to jail, for it would not be nice for HIM to be in 
jail ; that would be wrong for HIM. 

Let us take another case. A man is contemplating 
suicide. He has been taught that there is a Divine 
law against suicide. He knows that such an act is 
against the law of the community. He thinks of the 
disgrace it would be to his family ; the family is HIS, 
it would be a disgrace to HIM, and he decides he 
will not do it. Ill health, poverty, suffering, are all 
threatening him. He cannot stand it. No other man 



Infinite Law Unbreakable 1 77 

has been in such a terrible condition; he has been 
made the victim of all the darts of outrageous for- 
tune. It would be wrong for a man to commit suicide 
under ordinary circumstances, but for HIM, with 
nothing but dire poverty, continuous suffering, and 
unbroken loneliness, he has a RIGHT to end his life. 
It is HIS life, he is the center of all Life to himself; 
he has a right to do with it as he pleases. It would 
be not only wrong, but foolish, for him to keep on 
living. "Yes," he decides, "it is the right thing for 
me to do." And he does it. But not until he has 
decided that it is the RIGHT thing for HIM to do. 
Lest he change his mind and decide that it would be 
a wrong thing for him to do, he does it hurriedly. 
We cannot conceive of a man committing suicide 
while he is mentally well balanced and prosperous 
and well, for we cannot understand why he would 
think it was right for HIM to do it. Indeed, if we 
look into it we cannot conceive of anyone consciously 
doing anything which he at the moment of action has 
not decided is the BEST thing for HIM to do, the 
RIGHT thing for HIM to do. Try for a moment to 
think of a man committing suicide against his will. 
The suggestion is preposterous. What, then, is his 
Will but the voice, the decision of his Reason? Then 
no man can be conceived of as committing suicide 
when his Reason tells him it is a wrong thing for 



178 The Thinking Universe 

HIM to do. When Reason arrives at a decision it 
arrives at a something which it considers right for 
IT to do. If Reason has arrived at the decision that 
it is wrong for IT to do the thing proposed, how is 
the thing to be done? The Will does not start the 
Thinking — the Acting — and as far as acting is con- 
cerned the Being remains in a state of passivity. The 
man who commits suicide does not require to con- 
sider self-destruction right as a general principle, but 
only right for HIM. As expressing universal Egoism 
it is easy for HIM to make the distinction. It is per- 
haps harder than any of us who have not been 
tempted to self-destruction can appreciate, for a man 
with Reason unbalanced by disease, misfortune, and 
black environment, not to make the distinction. One 
thing is certain, that no one commits suicide until his 
Reason, or what is left him of it, approves the act as 
right for HIM. 

Without seeking further illustrations we have a 
right to assume that there is no crime so heinous, no 
folly so flagrant, that the one guilty of it has not 
found an "excuse" — which is but a trick of Reason — 
for considering that he or she had a RIGHT to com- 
mit it. The guilty one might easily be the first one to 
condemn the same act when committed by another, 
but this only proves that what we call right and wrong 
are not positive, but relative terms, as used in our 



Infinite Law Unbreakable 1 79 

ordinary reasoning. The old axiom, "Circumstances 
alter cases/' expresses this. We not only know that 
"there is a right way to do a right thing/' but more 
frequently than we may be willing to admit we con- 
sider that there is a right way to do a wrong thing, 
as well as a wrong way to do a right thing and a 
wrong way to do a wrong thing. This phase of our 
study has shown us the origin of that very conven- 
ient thing, an Excuse. If we analyze Excuses we will 
find they are nothing but tricks by which Reason has 
been cajoled into asserting as right at the moment of 
action, something which it would have rejected upon 
more careful examination. When we hear that some 
person has committed some folly or crime which was 
"without excuse," we are apt to consider that it must 
have been pretty bad that an "excuse" could not be 
found for it. Yet the one guilty of it no doubt had 
an excuse, as everyone has for whatever one does. 
Is it not a fact that looking back at our own mistakes, 
or looking at the mistakes of others, we decide them 
to be inexcusable? We are almost certain to think 
or say, "I must have been crazy when I did it," or 
"He must have been crazy when he did it." There 
is more truth than we suspect in such a declaration, 
for we do not commit follies or crimes in moments 
of sound judgment — i. e., when Reason is working 
Rightness. Such things are the outcome of weakened 



180 The Thinking Universe 

Reason, and insanity is nothing but an impairment of 
the machinery by which Reason expresses itself. 
This machinery can be impaired not only by disease 
or accident, but by Habit, We can entertain thoughts 
of folly or crime until our Reason becomes so habit- 
uated to them, to the weighing of them as light and 
trivial, to the playing with them till they take on an 
Appearance of Rightness, that at last in a fool moment 
it decides that they are Right, the clutch — the Will — is 
released, and the folly or crime becomes an act. That 
we must reason at the moment of conscious action 
that the action is right, by no means relieves us of 
our responsibility; it should and must increase our 
sense of responsibility. How disgusted and sore we 
feel the instant we discover that we have been 
"fooled !" What a contempt we have for ourselves 
when we find we have been the victim of some cheap 
fraud or smooth-tongued swindler! How we begin 
to suspect that our Reason, proud as we have been 
of it, is little better than that of an infant when we 
find we have made a disastrous and — w r hat should 
have been obvious to us at the moment of action — a 
fool investment. Yet these things teach us commer- 
cial wisdom and we learn to avoid hasty decisions 
where things of monetary value are involved. How 
else can we learn to become Right in our decisions 
when purely moral questions are involved? Surely 



Infinite: Law Unbreakable 181 

if we teach ourselves, and those whose education we 
help to direct, that the decisions we are called upon 
to make so frequently every day Cause everything 
that Affects us morally as well as financially and 
physically, we will learn to lead more Reasonable 
lives. Cause and Effect will be continually staring 
us in the face, and the same sense of "cheapness," "no- 
goodness," will come to us when we make a moral as 
when we make a financial mistake. This subject will 
be taken up again, but in the meantime we may be 
sure that if we follow where Enlightened Reason 
leads us we can make no mistake. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

The Laws of Expressed Life — Their Evolution 
and Scope — The Law of Moses. 

Having satisfied ourselves that there is but one In- 
finite Law — Rightness — and that it is unbreakable 
and irresistible, let us look at the laws that have been 
evolved by the combinations and partnerships of Ele- 
mental Atoms — Consciousnesses. These combinations 
and partnerships, as we have seen, have produced 
almost innumerable Subconsciousnesses, and combina- 
tions of Subconsciousnesses, all of which work to- 
wards the perfection of their Kind with such unerr- 
ing regularity and Rightness that we must conclude 
that they are governed by laws. In the near cen- 
turies scientists have been able to codify many of 
these laws. Since Newton's discovery of the Law of 
Gravitation research has become easier, and it may 
be as well to examine this Force and its relations in 
order that we may see that organic as well as inor- 
ganic life is ruled by the same impulse. The law of 
Gravitation is so invariable in its operations that it 
may easily be mistaken for an Infinite rather than a 
finite law. That it has to do with the assembling of 



The Laws of Expressed Life 183 

atoms into a condition of density makes it evident 
that it is not an Infinite law, as it concerns Things 
only, and their relations to each other in Time anct 
Space. Each atom, filled to its fulness with Infinite 
Life giving out from its Stillness the impulse of Mo- 
tion, moves as that impulse directs it to move; this 
impulse is the Infinite Urge, the expression of the 
Infinite Law of Rightness, to be manifested by the 
Atom, not by IT. This is a rather subtle point, but 
an important one. It has been seen that the Infinite 
works from within the Consciousness and as a part 
of it, thus causing the atom to move of its own free 
will, though its conscious will is exactly that which the 
Infinite determined it to be. If it were not so, and 
Infinite Life acted upon the atom as a compelling 
force from without, then Gravitation would become 
an Infinite law, with a set line of Rightness for all 
Consciousnesses alike, thus depriving the Conscious- 
ness of its individuality, a procedure contrary to the 
Infinite law of Rightness, as well as depriving the 
inorganic Universe of variety as to shapes and mag- 
nitudes. In the working of Gravitation as a law of 
Expressed rather than Unexpressed Life, Geology 
shows that atoms congregate according to their Kind, 
i. e., their density. While atoms seek the center of 
the largest body of density nearest to them, their 
whole tendency is to assemble according to their 



184 The Thinking Universe 

Kind. This is in obedience to the law of Attraction 
— the law known in Reasoning Life as the Com- 
munity impulse, the tendency to Colonize. When 
particles of gold are found in quartz we may be sure 
that individually they have been struggling to assem- 
ble themselves ; when we find them in nuggets we 
may know that a certain number of them have suc- 
ceeded in this. Such forces as water, wind, heat and 
electricity contribute to the assembling of atoms with 
their Kind. As heat, through volcanic eruptions and 
other manifestations of its energy, releases the gold 
particles in the quartz and frees other particles from 
uncongenial surroundings, so wind and water and 
other forces enable them to get together in accord- 
ance with the impulse of their Kind. Thus we see 
great bodies of sand collected as deserts, each Kind 
of sand getting together as a separate colony. Even 
on the beaches of our coasts where the water is con- 
tinually disturbing the sand, we find this colonizing 
continually going on, and the different kinds of sand 
getting together either in large bodies or layers. Chalk 
cliffs, large deposits of clay, the strata of rocks, so- 
called deposits of iron, copper, etc., all show the work- 
ing of this law of Attraction and declare the wisdom 
of the Infinite in Causing the law of Gravitation to 
be modified by the laws of Attraction and Repulsion, 
i. e., the expression of the individuality of the atoms, 



The Laws of Expressed Life 185 

of their fondness for their Kind. If it were other- 
wise, we would find all density an aggregation of 
unassorted atoms unable to accomplish the purposes 
for which they were designed, everything huddling 
to a center regardless of individuality. 

In Reasoning Life we find the same forces at 
work. We speak of the "gravitation" of human be- 
ings to the large centers of population. In large 
cities we find the law of Attraction colonizing people 
of various nationalities, and so obvious is the work- 
ing of this law that in all cities attractive to foreign- 
ers we hear of the Hungarian section, the Polish sec- 
tion, the Itajian section, etc. We find people segre- 
gating themselves socially according to their educa- 
tion and wealth, the habitations of the rich and the 
poor seldom intermingling. In Unreasoning animal 
life it is the same. In America the prairies were once 
alive with huge herds of buffalo that lived and moved 
as communities under recognized leaders. Droves of 
wild horses raced across the llanos of South America. 
Wolves traveled in packs. Wild geese and ducks 
migrated in huge flocks. These have disappeared or 
are disappearing. We still see swarms of bees, hills 
of ants, clouds of locusts, and so many evidences of 
community life amongst these beings that we can 
have no further doubt of the existence of the impulse 
that brings them and holds them together. 



186 The Thinking Universe 

It having been seen how this central and centraliz- 
ing law of Gravitation works in every variety of Ex- 
pressed Life, let us glance at the evolution of other 
laws specially designed for the betterment of Reason- 
ing Life — Man. In his Egoism Man naturally re- 
gards all Physical laws as having been designed for 
his betterment, and takes no thought as to whether 
the fulfillment of the law of Attraction does or does 
not afford happiness and contentment to the Unrea- 
soning atoms. Having come to the viewpoint that 
everything is Mind, and that everything Thinks, it 
would not be difficult for us to go further and try to 
appreciate a condition of contentment and pride as 
existing in Unreasoning Nature when it has arrived 
by combinations, partnerships and colonizations at 
the condition it esteems perfection. It goes towards 
this perfection from a set Point of Rightness, while 
Man is forced to find his own Point of Rightness, 
but it is not difficult to believe that a similar enjoy- 
able sense of achievement is relatively felt by both. 
Leaving this point as not strictly pertinent to our 
enquiry, let us glance at forces radiating from a cen- 
ter — that which has been made familiar to us by 
scientists as Centrifugal. In Reasoning Nature this 
finds its counterpart in federations, first in states and 
nations combining for the common good, but ruled 
from a central point, as the United States is ruled 



The Laws of Expressed Life 187 

from Washington, and Great Britain and her colonies 
from London. Each state or colony has its own 
center of power, located in its Capital. Each city, 
county and town is a center of municipal power, a» 
each collection of inorganic atoms has a center ot 
power. Each has laws locally adapted to its necessi- 
ties, carefully arranged so as not to conflict with 
higher laws of greater centers. 

Peripheral forces, those throwing out atoms from 
the circumference of a circle or an ellipse, find their 
counterpart in Reasoning Life as well as Unreasoning 
animal life, in the outcasts and unfortunates that in 
the daily whirl of things are ejected from ordinary 
community life, and colonize by themselves. These 
are found amongst wild animals in the derelicts left 
by the herds and flocks and swarms, to perish. In 
Reasoning Life they are found in hospitals and asy- 
lums and prisons, where Reason attends to their com- 
fort and betterment more successfully than could be 
done by ministering to them as individuals. In all 
cases we have seen that what in science are known 
as Elemental Laws have their counterparts in the 
laws established by Reason, and again must come to 
the conclusion that all Expressed Life is impelled by 
the same Urge to Rightness. 

When we come to the laws established by Reason- 
ing communities for moral self-control, we find our- 



188 The Thinking Universe 

selves in a new field of operation, but the same Prin- 
ciple prevails according to the nearness to which 
that community approaches Rightness. What is 
"moral self-control'' ? We know that physical self- 
control is the management of the Body by the Will. 
Perfect physical self-control is the full and instant 
response of the Body to the call of the Will — the 
voice of Reason. Thus if we have perfect control of 
our body, when we reason that the Right thing for 
us to do is to walk, the clutch of the Will is released 
and we walk perfectly, as our Consciousness esteems 
perfection in walking. Moral laws are those which 
express the relation between man and man, and moral 
self-control, then, must mean the controlling of these 
relations so as to obtain instant response by the body 
politic to the call of that which is its center. To ob- 
tain instant compliance to the demands of authority, 
penalties are provided for disobedience. These penal- 
ties, great or small as Reason judges the offense to 
merit, from death or life imprisonment down to a 
few days in jail or a petty fine, have no counterparts 
in Infinity or the elemental laws of organic or inor- 
ganic life. They are purely the outgrowth of Reason 
— the Law of Now — and are built up from the Mem- 
ory Life as to what is best fitted to compel obedience. 
It is here we first find, in all our tracings of the Ex- 
pressions of Life, obedience by compulsion. In purely 



The Laws of Expressed Life 189 

animal life we see the stronger animal take that which 
it desires from the weaker, but that is the outgrowth 
of the animal Subconsciousness, which considers as 
its own everything necessary to its betterment, and 
nothing is exacted as a penalty. In Infinite as well 
as in Unreasoning Expressed Life there is a set 
Rightness, and the law of this fixed Rightness cannot 
be broken, consequently there can be no penalties. 
Communities, we know, in every instance desire their 
laws to express the combined Reason of the commun- 
ity, and the penalties for the infraction of these laws 
are invariably fixed, and have been from time im- 
memorial, by the central power of that community. 
At one time this central power was vested in some 
absolute ruler, who by the force of circumstances or 
his own intelligence occupied for a time the chief 
place, made arbitrary laws, and controlled the lives, 
liberties, and pursuit of happiness of his subjects as 
he saw fit. These kings, or chiefs, were often blood- 
thirsty tyrants, though sometimes as wise and good 
as the Light of their Time permitted — or, to put it 
more exactly, as the enlightenment of their subjects 
demanded. None of them had any Light as we can 
find it except through Reason, and as the intakes of 
their Reason were opened or closed to the Infinite 
Urge to Rightness were they superior to or beneath 
their surroundings. As education became more wide- 



190 The Thinking Universe 

ly diffused, as the experience of the past as provided 
by history became common, as a knowledge of the 
world's surface as presented by geography grew gen- 
eral, as the laws of the so-called heavenly bodies were 
outlined by astronomy, and secrets of the world's up- 
building were revealed by geology, and other hidden 
things were made plain by kindred sciences, the peo- 
ple became more capable of self-government, the in- 
dividualism of the Human Consciousness declared it- 
self, and Absolutism faded away until now no nation 
is without its parliamentary government, no matter 
what its Chief Executive may be called. 

With the increasing share that the Reason of the 
individual has obtained in governments of all kinds, 
laws have been better adapted to human necessities, 
and penalties better fitted to the gravity of offenses. 
Hangings, burnings, and torturings for witchcraft and 
heresy have disappeared; minor offenses such as 
sheep-stealing are not punished with death ; imprison- 
ment for debt has been practically abolished, and slav- 
ery has become a thing of the past. What brought 
about these changes except the progress of Human 
Reason? Why have cruel penalties been abolished 
for offenses imaginary and real, except at the call of 
Reason? What Light has there been to guide Man 
except his Reason, illumined, as often it was without 
him understanding the means of his illumination, by 



The Laws of Expressed Life 191 

the Infinite Urge to Rightness? That the personal 
and partial illumination of a few individuals through 
having found, more than others, of the Infinite Light, 
has been sufficient to bring about these world changes 
except by a slow and faulty dissemination of their 
knowledge to the Reason of the masses, cannot be 
shown. The progress has been educational and made 
entirely through Reason, both as to the expression of 
such Light as we have and the use we have made of 
it. The fact that the hanging, burning, and torturing 
of witches and heretics not only survived in so-called 
civilized countries for over three-quarters of the time 
that has elapsed since the beginning of the Christian 
era, but were indeed inflicted by the self-appointed 
custodians of Christian Truth, proves that until Rea- 
son abolished these things so-called Religion upheld 
them. 

It is true there has always been a conflict between 
Reason and Revelation. Theologians until recently 
have been unanimous in denouncing the claim of 
Reason to criticize what purports to be Revelation. 
While doing this as a class, each sect of Theologians 
has been unsparing in its criticism of what is esteemed 
to be Revelation by every other sect of Theologians. 
Followers of Buddha, Confucius, Mahomet and Christ 
are each numbered by the millions, yet amongst the 
last named there are more, and more radical differ- 



192 The Thinking Universe 

ences of "Faith" than amongst the other three. The 
Theologians of the first three classes each claim a 
superior Light, but do not deny that the others have 
some Light. This denial is left to the Christian 
Theologians, who claim that their Sacred Writings 
contain it all, and that the others are impositions. 
Yet they do not agree amongst themselves. What is 
the matter ? They are simply mistaken as to the man- 
ner, matter, and extent of the Revelations in Sacred 
Writings of all kinds. Their differences can only be 
accounted for by the different workings of the REA- 
SON which guided and guides each one of them. 
It is their only means of assimilating any knowledge 
which comes into their Consciousness. If they had 
no Reason, there would be no Revelation, for none 
would be needed. Man would not exist, and the 
Thing nearest, most resembling Man, but without 
Reason, would be automatically Right, having in 
common with all Unreasoning Nature a Rightness 
ALREADY FOUND FOR HIM. Then there would 
have been no Theology, no Theologians, and the world 
would have been at peace, but it would have been 
without that complex creature, Man, whose continual 
struggles for a Rightness of His Own Finding have 
so irritated the Doctors of Divinity. But glory be ! 
he will find it in spite of them or of anyone whose 



The Laws of Expressed Life 193 

ambition it is to hold a high place in the zone outside 
of Reason. 

The code of laws with which the majority of us 
are most familiar as being the most ancient and rea- 
sonable extant, is that of Moses, but that he had these 
laws already graven on tables of stone handed to him 
by Infinity in the "midst of the fire, of the cloud, and 
of the thick darkness" of Horeb, is an account of their 
origin which we cannot accept. The fact that these 
laws were so reasonable, so well adapted to the neces- 
sities of the human race in general, and appeared at 
a time long considered to be one of ignorance and 
semi-barbarity, caused a considerable section of man- 
kind for many centuries to believe in the miraculous 
nature of their origin, and the majority of our moral 
laws to this day have them as their basis. The re- 
searches of science have not only shown the impossi- 
bility of such a Personal God as the one described 
as speaking to Moses, but have shown that a civiliza- 
tion vastly superior to that of the Hebrews existed 
long prior to the placing of these laws in the Ark of 
the Covenant. Moses himself, as described in the 
Holy Writings, was reared and educated in the royal 
household of Egypt, a country in which the arts and 
sciences had made great progress, and which had a his- 
tory, and consequently an experience, antedating that of 
the Hebrews by many centuries. A wealth of tablets 



194 The Thinking Universe 

and memorials has been unearthed not only in Egypt, 
but taken from the ruins of ancient Babylon and other 
Assyrian cities, which, as they have been deciphered, 
point very conclusively to the existence of laws, not 
only amongst the Assyrians, but further back still 
amongst the Chaldeans, and in a still more remote 
period amongst the Shemerians, similar and prior to 
those of Moses and containing accounts anterior to 
by thousands of years, and somewhat contradictory 
of, the work of Moses as an historian. Evidence of 
this sort has been piled up into such an irrefutable 
mass that all sincere students of it have ceased to 
regard Moses as the direct agent of what they esteem 
to be an impossible God. To these students Moses 
remains as a wonderfully wise law-giver, who, anx- 
ious to impress his not too enlightened people with 
the merit of his laws, considerably overstated the 
share which Infinity had in their making. This over- 
statement, no doubt, Moses justified to himself in the 
intensity of the Egoism which the unusual gift of 
Light seemed to warrant. He argued, doubtless, that 
his people would obey these laws more implicitly if 
they believed them to come directly from the hand 
of God; it would be for their good, and consequently 
RIGHT to cause them to believe this. Like all law- 
yers, great and small, have always been, he was not 
above placing the law and evidence he adduced in the 



The Laws of Expressed Life 195 

most favorable light. Whether these laws would 
have been more effectual if he had founded them on 
the simple basis of Cause and Effect, thus making 
them intelligible — reasonable — to the ordinary mind, 
and thus inducing it to manage its affairs upon what 
is always to be found to work Rightness, rather than 
by obscuring their origin in a blaze of unnatural 
glory and thus causing the reasoning mind not only 
to doubt the origin of the laws but sometimes to dis- 
pute their wisdom, must remain a matter for conjec- 
ture. We know that if we are led to doubt the authen- 
ticity of the account of anything's origin we almost 
invariably begin to suspect the rightness of the thing 
itself. Even with the "supernatural" stimulation to 
obedience used by Moses, it is evident that the Israel- 
ites must have had seasons of doubt as to the verity 
of the story which had been given them with their 
laws. These "seasons of doubt" could not have been 
caused by any imperfections in the laws themselves, 
but must have resulted from the serious and very 
prevalent disbelief as to whether the story of their 
origin told by Moses was true. At any rate, the 
Chosen People were given to backsliding, to the wor- 
ship of Baal, and to the making of idols of their own. 
Of the last named, the making of the Golden Calf 
will be remembered as an example. This breaking of 
the first Commandment was so recurrent as to lead 



196 The Thinking Universe 

us to conclude that it was the one in which they had 
the least confidence — this, too, at the time when the 
evidence of its origin, if such evidence existed, was 
freshest in the minds of the people. Is it, then, any- 
thing but natural that decades of centuries afterwards, 
in an age of vastly greater enlightenment, these doubts 
have grown to such proportions as they have? 

Inherently these laws contain nothing which a stu- 
dent of Egyptian and Babylonian history could not 
with enlightened Reason have written. The special 
illumination shown is the glimpse of Infinity as the 
One God, the One Good. Even with the blaze of 
glory which must have filled the mind of Moses when 
it fastened upon Monotheism, there did not come a 
conception of the Infinite as a Principle, but he beheld 
it as a Man in a condition of exaggerated Power and 
Splendor. The Infinite Urge within him, to which 
he was so open, found the limitations of his Con- 
sciousness too great to allow this high conception of 
Deity as the Infinite Principle. It is not to be won- 
dered that the mind of Moses contained nothing able 
to become Conscious of this Principle. He lived in 
an era when science had not shown the universality 
of law, had not become awake to the millions of 
years since the beginning of Things, and his perspec- 
tive, limited to a few centuries, included nothing but 
Palestine and the countries contiguous to it. When, 



The Laws of Expressed Life 197 

stealing into his Awareness, came the thought, "I am 
the Lord thy God; thou shalt have no other Gods 
before me," had he lived in the present century it 
would have meant, "I am the Infinite; I am my own 
Good. I can have no other Good than that which is 
in myself/' This is the Monotheism of to-day; of 
Science, as it opens itself to the Infinite Urge to 
Rightness ; of Theology, as it ceases to worship an 
impossible Personal God, and recognizes that all the 
Infinity there is or can be for each one of us is that 
which has always been and always will be within us. 
"Thou Shalt Have No Other GOD Before Thyself," 
gentle reader. You are incapable of it, or rather, 
you are CAPABLE without it. GOD is merely a 
different way of spelling GOOD. We are each one 
of us incapable of realizing — mark this word realizing 
— anything more perfectly good than we ourselves 
would be if we were perfectly good. We know noth- 
ing, can know nothing, more accurately than we 
know ourselves. We can imagine nothing and no- 
body more perfect than we would be if we were 
perfect. The law of Egoism prevents this. Each one 
of us is the center of the Universe to himself or her- 
self. It is the Infinite Egoism within us declaring 
what we will yet be— PERFECT. THOU CANST 
HAVE NO OTHER GOD BEFORE THYSELF, 
jit is because we do not appreciate this that we are 



198 The Thinking Universe: 

the poor boobs that we are. It is because we do not 
appreciate this that we are almost appalled at seeing 
it in print and somehow vaguely believing it is true. 
It will be when your Reason becomes Positive in its 
Rightness that it is so, that you will think with your 
whole Being that it is so, and your every action will 
prove that it is so, and you will cease to follow after 
the false gods of Avarice, Passion, Folly and Lust, 
as the Israelites wandered from the vague GOOD of 
Moses after Baal and the Golden Calf. As we are 
told that "Enoch Walked with God," so we will learn 
to walk with God, that is, with the Good that is in 
us. We will hold its hand, accept its guidance, as 
we cannot hold the hand or feel the guidance of the 
Jehovah of Moses. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

The Law of Christ — Its Origin and How It 
Became Theologized. 

Twenty centuries ago Western civilization in vari- 
ous degrees of advancement had for its center the 
Mediterranean Sea and the Orient was practically 
unknown to it. As its name suggests, this sea was 
supposed to be in the middle of the earth's surface, 
which was then considered to be flat. Greece, Rome, 
and Egypt were the centers of learning, the greatest 
university in the world being then at Alexandria, and 
to that great Egyptian port came the scholars and 
scribes to benefit by the manuscripts which had been 
collected by the million in the library of the univer- 
sity. The Sun Worship of Persia was most popular, 
but the Hebrews were then, as they had long been, 
accredited with being the most religious people, with 
minds best adapted to Theological thought. A colony 
said to consist of over thirty thousand Jews was set- 
tled in Alexandria, where some of them preserved in 
its purity the Judaic form of worship, while others 
permitted themselves to be deeply affected by the 
cosmopolitan thought of that great center of learning. 



200 The Thinking Universe; 

Students of history, led by the law of Cause and Ef- 
fect, have with one accord looked to what at that 
time was the center of Light for the first Expression 
of the CHRIST PRINCIPLE. The Reasoning 
World had grown tired of the foolishness of idols 
and was not disposed to accept the not too attractive 
picture drawn by the Chosen People, of the God who 
was the God of Israel alone. Were it not for the law 
of Egoism, the workings of which we have observed 
to be so powerful, we could not conceive of a small, 
crudely developed and vanquished people still hugging 
to themselves the belief that the God of their fathers, 
the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, was the Omni- 
potent Ruler of the Universe, but the God — the Good 
— of Israel only. If we pause to think a moment of 
the meaning of the Infinite being confined in His love 
and attentions to one beggarly people and caring 
nothing for what became of the rest of the world's 
population, we must be stunned by the colossal impu- 
dence of such an assumption. This view of the He- 
brew outlook must have dawned on the thoughtful 
men of that race as they mingled in Alexandria with 
students from countries in many respects more en- 
lightened than Palestine dared claim to be. The 
deeply devotional nature of the Jew could not, how- 
ever, be eradicated by the confusion which he must 
have felt in cosmopolitan Alexandria when he was 



The Law of Christ — Its Origin 201 

discovered to be the possessor of a Faith so narrow 
and hide-bound. Like their fathers, who dwelt in 
sun and sand-blackened tents and through long peri- 
ods of fasting and prayer cried, "O thou God of my 
fathers, show me the way," these students, too, 
reached out in the darkness in search of a Guiding 
Hand. As their fathers were answered by the incom- 
ing of Prophetic Light to the extent their Conscious- 
nesses could comprehend it, so it is not difficult to 
believe these students, with enlarged capacity of com- 
prehension, found still greater Light, and upon some 
One, or upon some Group, dawned the Christ Prin- 
ciple — LOVE, hitherto unknown in Jewish law. This 
new Principle at once obliterated the difference be- 
tween the Jew and the Gentile and made all mankind 
the objects of Infinite attention and affection. That 
this should have dawned upon the seeker after Truth 
does not seem to be even strange, but it seems to have 
been abhorrent to the average Israelite. In Egypt 
there was a strong organization known as the Thera- 
peutae — the Healers. The adherents of this sect are 
described as garbing themselves in white, avoiding 
wine and meat, and living on the plainest diet, that 
their thoughts and actions might be pure and their 
spiritual nature dominant. This Order spread to Pal- 
estine, and amongst the Jews was known as the Es- 
senes, the strictest sect of which bore the name of 



202 The: Thinking Universe: 

Nazarites, and, though they received no mention in 
the New Testament, the Essenes appear in Jewish 
history to have been a well-known and meritorious 
organization. Josephus, the great Jewish historian of 
the period in which Christ is said to have lived, is 
described as choosing between the Pharisees, Sad- 
ducees and Essenes, becoming a disciple of the last 
named for several years, in endeavoring to live a life 
of purity, and though he ultimately became a Phari- 
see he must have retained a strong affection for the 
Essenes. Two startling facts become apparent when 
we find that Josephus, though giving minute descrip- 
tions of the events of that era, makes no mention 
whatever of the birth, life or death of Christ. It is 
true that a sentence merely naming Christ is to be 
found in some of his works, but even the Theologians 
with one accord repudiate it as an interpolation and 
admit that Josephus either ignored or had never heard 
of Christ. The other fact is that in the New Testa- 
ment, much as is said about the . Pharisees and Sad- 
ducees, there is no mention of the Essenes, though 
that sect would naturally be the friends and co-work- 
ers of one of Christ's lofty nature and mission. What, 
then, can the inference be except that Christ as a per- 
son did not exist, and that the Essenes, who are 
known to have existed, were, as a few individuals or 
as a body, the local custodians of the Christ Principle, 



Ths Law of Christ— Its Origin 203 

which was so unpopular amongst the Jews that Jo- 
sephus did not mention it, while the writers of the 
New Testament narrative avoided the mention of the 
Essenes lest that Order might be called upon to prove 
or disprove the existence of the historic Christ at a 
time when such a thing might have been possible? 
These are not the only facts that lead to a disbelief 
in the historic Christ. Unlike Moses, who had the 
tables of stone on which the law was graven to prove 
that he was an intermediary between God and Man 
and left them as a treasure to His people, the historic 
Christ is not claimed to have transmitted or written 
a line, though He is by none suspected of having 
been illiterate. It would not have mattered, if He 
was what He is claimed to have been, whether He 
had any schooling or not ; He was capable of success- 
fully disputing with the Doctors of the Law, and 
such a thing as learning to write was unnecessary to 
One who had power to raise the dead and could easily 
have covered every rock in Palestine with inscriptions 
graven instantly by the Almighty hand to bear witness 
to His mission as the Son of God who had come to 
save the world. Indeed, as He had come to save the 
whole world, and as a real part of the Infinite Father 
was Omnipotent, Omnipresent and Omniscient, He 
could have placed His law and the story of His mis- 
sion on the rocky faces of every mountain of this 



204 The Thinking Universe 

planet, and knowing, as the Infinitely Wise must have 
known, that both His personality and His mission 
would be denied before He was cold from the cross, 
He would have left some indestructible memorial, or 
such an array of memorials that no dispute could have 
arisen. Indeed, we cannot conceive that One who 
worked such wonders as we are told He worked, failed 
to bring to His way of thinking every reasonable 
being in Palestine and all the little world of civiliza- 
tion that then existed. If the miracles He worked 
were not sufficiently great for this He could have 
worked greater; if they were not sufficiently numer- 
ous He could have worked many more if He was a 
Real Part, the Empowered Messenger, of Infinity. 
But not a line of writing, not a particle of evidence of 
any kind except the Gospels, the oldest of which — • 
said to be that of Mark — is not even claimed to have 
been written for at least thirty years after Christ's 
death. How do Theologians explain that such over- 
whelming evidences of supernatural power were not 
presented as would at once and forever have made 
dispute impossible if Christ's mission and message 
were intended as a finality ? According to them noth- 
ing should have been left to REASON, as Reason 
has nothing to do with shaping Faith. If such is the 
case, and Christ was a supernatural visitant, why was 
the getting together of evidence of His existence not 



Thh Law of Christ — Its Origin 205 

begun for thirty years after His death, and admittedly 
not completed by the other Gospel writers till they 
must have been in their extreme dotage, or left to be 
written after they had died, with no more accuracy 
than could be given to a tradition? Even the getting 
back of so-called Apostolic writings to within a gener- 
ation, or two generations, after His alleged death is 
largely a matter of guesswork, for the oldest manu- 
scripts of the Gospels that have been found were 
written in Greek and of a date over three hundred 
years after the time of the alleged Messiah. How 
is it that nothing has been found written in the lan- 
guage of the country in which the tremendous events 
recorded are said to have taken place — a country in 
which the Greek language was unknown to the peas- 
ants of the interior, such as the Apostles are claimed 
to have been? It is as weak, as evidence, as would 
be an account, written in French by a Franco- Scotch- 
man living in Rome, of a series of events in the Low- 
lands of Scotland hundreds of years prior to its date. 
What would we think of the common sense of Captain 
Peary in his search for the North Pole if he had not 
written a line, nor registered an observation, nor 
communicated with any Geographical Society, nor 
taken any steps whatever to establish his point of 
geographical Rightness, but had left everything to a 
dozen of his illiterate Icelandic sailors to be described 



206 Thd Thinking Universe 

by them from memory after his death or handed down 
by them as tradition? What sort of evidence would 
these traditions be considered three hundred years 
hence if found written in a language not spoken by 
Captain Peary nor any of his sailors? We cannot 
conceive of a course so obviously idiotic being pur- 
sued by any man deserving the slightest recognition 
as Great, yet it would very nearly parallel the alleged 
history we have of Christ and His work in Palestine. 

That Christ was directly begotten of God and had 
all the powers of His Father, yet failed to exercise 
all His powers on a mission so important as the salva- 
tion of the human race, is not conceivable. If He had 
such powers and did not exercise them it is because 
He did not desire to, and wilfully withheld such over- 
whelming and obvious demonstrations as would have 
been irresistible and never-to-be-forgotten. If He 
was a human being simply, with extraordinary com- 
prehension of the Infinite law and the laws of Ex- 
pressed Life as have since been demonstrated by sci- 
ence to exist. He would have taken some better means 
to establish the fact that He lived and worked, as it is 
alleged He lived and worked, than were taken. No 
man, no superman, with knowledge and foresight such 
as Christ must have had of the superlative importance 
of His mission and the difficulties of establishing Him- 
self and it in history, would have neglected this im- 



The: Law of Christ — Its Origin 207 

portant feature of His work. Yet it was so neglected, 
for even His alleged immediate followers, who must 
have known how uncertain was their tenure of life, 
are not even claimed to have begun the work of put- 
ting His life and mission on record until so many 
years had elapsed — in that country where communica- 
tion was so difficult, where there were no postoffices, 
no newspapers, no means of doing things as they are 
done nowadays — that the genuineness of their testi- 
mony was left open to the gravest doubts. No ordi- 
nary man would have left his business — Christ's "busi- 
ness" was the "work of the Father" — in such a state, 
with premonitions such as He had of an untimely end. 
The more we turn over alleged facts in our Reason, 
the more the testimony appears to lose even the value 
of "hearsay" evidence. No written statements ap- 
peared until even "hearsay" denials of the truth oi 
them had become practically impossible. We do not 
know how much publicity Mark's account of Christ's 
doings was given at the time it is claimed to have 
been written. Its circulation was probably confined 
to those who had assisted in its preparation, and as 
there were no newspapers published at that time there 
could have then been no discussion of its authenticity 
and no incentive could have been felt nor means easily 
adopted for anyone knowing the untruth of it to put 
a rebuttal of the story in a lasting shape. The strong- 



208 The Thinking Universe 

est point the believers in the historic Christ have so 
far been able to present has been the survival and in- 
fluence of the doctrines alleged to have been taught 
by Him. Nothing but "truth," they say, could have 
thus survived through the centuries. This is admit- 
tedly true. The principles alleged to have been taught 
by Christ were sound and far ahead of their time, and 
if they had not been Theologized would have had 
vastly greater effect. 

There is no dispute that at or about the time of 
Christ a propaganda for the spread of these principles 
was begun, nor that they were wider, deeper and 
greater than could be comprehended by those who 
Theologized them. It is not the purpose of this work 
to minimize, but to magnify the Christ Principle. It 
is unimportant, as affecting the soundness of the posi- 
tion taken herein, whether Christ as a man lived and 
labored as He is described in the New Testament 
to have lived and labored, or if it was John, the Alex- 
andrian Jew and "apostle," or someone unknown to 
us, who saw the Light and started the propaganda 
for its diffusion by projecting a theoretical Christ, 
clothing Him in the garb of a Nazarene, and having 
slightly varying accounts of His origin and doings 
written by pseudo-apostles. If it was the latter, who- 
ever evolved the idea did it for what he esteemed 
RIGHTNESS— that which would be the most effec- 



The: Law of Christ — Its Origin 209 

tive. It is not easy to teach abstract principles. Un- 
personified virtues are not appreciated. Following a 
leader is much easier than following a principle. We 
are all willing to try to do that desirable thing said 
to have been done by another, while we might refuse 
even to attempt to follow the same line of conduct if 
it had never been demonstrated to be feasible. The 
problem of inducing the world to accept the Christ 
Principle must have seemed indeed difficult to him 
who first saw its force and beauty, and it could not 
have appeared to be a great task to such a mind to 
invent a personage to personify the principles and 
become a Hero whom mankind would follow. The 
spread of the propaganda seems to have been most 
successful amongst the Jews living remote from 
Jerusalem, and we are told (Acts 11:26) "The Dis- 
ciples (students) were called Christians first in An- 
tioch" — a city some three hundred miles northeast of 
Jerusalem. To this day Christianity, except amongst 
foreigners, has little hold in Palestine. Paul, whose 
writings are of a period about a hundred years after 
Christ, as he himself admits, before his conversion was 
a fanatical Jew, and his writings prove that after his 
conversion he became a fanatical Christian. To him 
we appear to owe the first Theologizing of the Christ 
Principle, the working over of that which was Truth 
into what cannot be considered any better than human 



210 The Thinking Universe: 

dogma and creed. Paul's attempts to harmonize his 
faith as a Jew with his practices as a Christian; to 
hold to circumcision and yet reject it; to believe the 
Gentile has as good a status with the Infinite as the 
Jew while he was still unfreed from the prejudices 
of his race; to preach the Free Will of Man while 
holding to predestination, foreordination, and the like, 
show that, skilled as he was in logic, he had not 
grasped the true meaning of the Christ Principle. 
After Paul, and with his writings as the principal 
basis, it was not hard for less sincere and less able 
men further to befuddle his Theology and to push the 
Light into greater obscurity. Nearly all the "mira- 
cles" ascribed to Christ are those of healing the sick, 
and upon these and a repetition of such wonders the 
author of the propaganda appears to have relied for 
the spread of the Principle. It is well known that the 
early Christians had great power for the healing of 
the sick and the control of their own bodies, but as 
the Christ Principle became enshrouded in Theological 
mummeries this disappeared. 

What has just been said is based on the assumption 
that Christianity began with a theoretical rather than 
a personal Christ, and if we take one more glance at 
the picture which has been presented to us in the New 
Testament we will see how devoid of background and 
perspective it is ; that it is like a photograph taken of a 



The Law of Christ — Its Origin 2 1 1 

picture and not of flesh and blood. However this may 
appear to you, it is really immaterial whether Christ 
as a MAN ever lived or not; what is recognized as 
the CHRIST PRINCIPLE has lived in spite of the 
Theologians. It is important, however, to establish 
that Christ as a GOD did not live and work as alleged. 
If His birth was a "miracle," then what we had 
thought to have established as the law that Infinity 
does not interfere with nor intrude into any Conscious- 
ness, falls to the ground. If Christ had no earthly 
father, then the Infinite intruded into the Conscious- 
ness of Mary, contrary to everything which demon- 
strates the sanctity of the Consciousness of the min- 
utest elemental atom. Even the writers of Genesis 
recognized that reproduction should be "everything 
after its kind." Every observer, every observation 
recorded in the history of Things demonstrates this 
law to be inviolable, to be the LAW OF RIGHT- 
NESS ITSELF. Unless we absolutely deny our abil- 
ity to arrive by REASON at any correct conclusion, 
we must put the Immaculate Conception into the book 
of myths with the stories of the supernatural origin 
of gods and demigods of all ages. Nothing in the 
alleged history of Christ or His claims supports the 
theory that He was actually a God, the Son — without 
the intervention of a physical father — of the Infinite. 
If He had been, there would have been a declaration 



212 The Thinking Universe 

of it made with such tremendous power that the whole 
Universe would have been shaken. Instead, we have 
but a voice reported to have been heard at Christ's 
baptism saying, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I 
am well pleased." Why, might we ask the believers 
in a Personal God, did not the Infinite appear in per- 
son and demonstrate the status of His alleged Son? 
But a small minority of the people nowadays believe 
in the manifestations of spirits through mediums or 
table-rappings, because they are incoherent and in- 
conclusive, yet the whole world is asked to accept the 
Divinity of Christ on the basis of a similar manifesta- 
tion said to have occurred half a lifetime before it was 
reported. Why were the miracles, even if they took 
place as reported, done in such obscurity and locally 
so ineffectually that Palestine was not convulsed with 
fear and trembling at the presence of such a wonder- 
worker? Yet Josephus and all the historians of that 
period apparently never heard of him, and Palestine 
as a community was unmoved. Why was anything 
left half done? If the Infinite sent His Son to do a 
thing, how came it about that it was not instantly 
done? Sending His Son meant that the Infinite in- 
tended something to be done, and surely we cannot 
imagine that either His power or intention failed 
Theologians cannot argue that very little was given 
to us because we were able by means of Reason to 



The Law of Christ — Its Origin 213 

complete the structure. They claim for Christ's mis- 
sion a finality that cannot be called in question. Then 
what was to have been done should have been done 
and left on record so that even the "wayfaring man 
though a fool" could not err therein. If God sent His 
Son once and His mission failed to the extent that 
Christ's did, why did not He send another Son, or the 
same Son again, and keep sending Him, if that is His 
way of doing business ? That He sent His Son to be 
crucified as an Atonement for some preposterous sin 
committed by Adam before he was endowed with Rea- 
son and therefore could not have been a man at all, 
should not be entertained by any sane person. In- 
deed, the whole story of the supernatural Christ is a 
figment of the imagination; a picture painted in a 
little flat world filled with petty tyrants, ruled by 
gods and demi-gods who had to be propitiated by 
bloody sacrifices, burnt offerings, and unintelligible 
mummeries. That the world has worshipped this pic- 
ture so long after the little flat world had been found 
to be a planet, one of innumerable celestial bodies 
governed by unchanging Infinite law, proves that re- 
ligion with the majority of us is almost altogether 
Subconscious, and, like red hair and big feet, heredi- 
tary. 

We have been seeking to see the Infinite from the 
standpoint of Reason enlightened by the Infinite Urge. 



214 The Thinking Universe 

And surely the picture of the great restful Everywhere, 
the reposeful Everything, the All- Wise, the Omnipo- 
tent Then, and Now, and Always, the Loving though 
Intangible in which every expressed Thing finds peace, 
is more beautiful to contemplate, more possible to 
realize, than the Yahweh, the Jehovah, the Personal 
Deity, full of jealousy and blood-thirst, who, if 
Hebraic history be true, was satisfied with being the 
God of nothing more important than the none too 
fruitful fields and not too lovely people of Palestine. 

Before leaving this subject it might be well to an- 
swer the question, "How is it, if there never was a 
personal Christ, that to this day we reckon the year 
as it passes as being a certain number since Christ?" 
The present system of dating things as being in such 
a "year of our Lord" was not suggested until 526 
years after the alleged birth of Christ. Before that 
time and long afterwards the years were computed 
according to the Julian calendar instituted by Caesar 
46 years before Christ is alleged to have been born, 
having for its basis the foundation of Rome. Accord- 
ing to this calendar, in 754 the monk Dionysius 
Exigius computed the present calendar — the reckon- 
ing by Anno Domini. But it did not for many years 
come into general observance, and not then in its 
present shape. In some countries and in certain 
periods the year was reckoned as beginning at the 



The Law of Christ — Its Origin 215 

Annunciation, the 25th of March, while in other 
countries the year began at Christmas. Various 
changes were made at various times, but even yet the 
dates in the Christian and Julian calendars do not 
harmonize even after allowance is made for the dif- 
ferent periods upon which they are based. This 
establishes the fact that our present calendar histori- 
cally proves nothing, even if it tallied exactly with the 
Julian calendar, which it does not, as there is a dis- 
crepancy of some four or five years, which places the 
birth of Christ as commemorated by it some four or 
five years out of gear with the time it is said to have 
taken place. Moreover, the Sunday of our calendar 
does not tally with the Sabbath of the Hebrews, 
the latter, as we all know, coming on Saturday. 
Again, Sunday and all the days of the week as wc 
have them named commemorate the worship of Pagan 
gods, such as the worship of the Sun for Sunday, the 
Moon for Monday, Tiw for Tuesday, Woden for 
Wednesday, Thor for Thursday, Frigga for Friday 
and Saturn for Saturday. It is not possible in a work 
like this to go into further details, as it would take a 
book instead of a chapter to present the evidence ob- 
tainable that our calendar and many of our church 
services are founded on Pagan traditions. Indeed, 
our calendar, which was only put exactly in its pres- 



216 The Thinking Universe 

ent shape by Pope Gregory in 1582, when he annulled 
ten days and adjusted Leap Year, does not tally with 
the Greek calendar, which is also a Christian institu- 
tion and has a Christmas and Easter of its own. 



CHAPTER XV. 

"The Judgment Day" — Forever in Which to 

Decide. 

We have seen in the course of these studies that 
everything is controlled by LAW. We have found 
but one law which is invariable, controlling Reasoning 
and Unreasoning Nature alike — the Law of RIGHT- 
NESS — and have concluded that it is the only IN- 
FINITE LAW. The Finite Laws, those governing 
Expressed Life, we have found to be the co-operative 
impulses of the Consciousnesses and Subconscious- 
nesses of the Universe, acting and re-acting upon each 
other, and thus producing variety as the Laws of At- 
traction and Repulsion modify the Law of Gravity. 
The Infinite Law is Universal, Unbreakable — Right- 
ness must always and everywhere prevail. We have 
seen that this RIGHTNESS is that of Each Thing 
A.fter Its Kind and has nothing to do with what we 
call Moral Rightness, except that it exercises its Urge 
upon Reasoning Life as well as Unreasoning Life, 
thus giving to each an irresistible impulse towards 
the achievement of perfection from a SET POINT 
of RIGHTNESS. In Unreasoning Life this SET 



218 The: Thinking Universe 

POINT is fixed by Infinity in the Consciousness of 
each Thing, while in Reasoning Life the Conscious- 
ness must fix some POINT OF RIGHTNESS of its 
own at the moment of action before it can Conscious- 
ly act. In this way was the harmony of the Universe 
ordained, and in this way it is preserved, and we can 
conceive of no other way that either could have been 
accomplished. As the Infinite sets the will of all Un- 
reasoning Consciousnesses and leaves them to work 
out their various partnerships and combinations 
and colonizations by themselves, but always im- 
pelled by the Infinite Urge, it is evident that all 
Unreasoning Life is thus controlled by the Infinite, 
which at the same time divests itself of the man- 
agement of the Things, which are thus left to 
manage themselves, yet without the possibility of 
mismanagement taking place. Thus since the 
"creative" fiat or fiats which called the various Con- 
sciousnesses into existence, the GREAT RESTFUL 
INFINITE has had nothing to do with Unreasoning 
Life but put forth its Urge to Rightness. Its relation 
to Reasoning Life is absolutely the same. The purely 
animal Expression of human life has developed in the 
same way and by the same means as all other animal 
life, through experience and necessity, though the ex- 
perience of Reasoning Life has been widened by Rea- 
son and has been modified by it to the extent that 



The Judgment Day 219 

Reason has been brought to bear upon it. When the 
Infinite made it impossible for Reasoning Life Con- 
sciously to act without at the moment of action de- 
claring its action to be RIGHT, it left Reasoning 
Life to its own devices, working upon it only as it 
works upon Unreasoning Life, by its general Urge 
to Rightness of its Kind. Thus we all have to de- 
clare — i. e., decide — at the moment of conscious action 
that what we are about to do is RIGHT for US to 
do. When, judging from the effect of our action, we 
find we have not been RIGHT, we decide not to re- 
peat the action, and have gained that much Experi- 
ence. If again and again we repeat the same mistake 
it becomes a folly, i. e., the act of a fool. If, by rea 
son of a Subconsciousness degenerated by repetitions 
of a mistake into the possession of a fool habit, as is 
the case with the so-called "incurable" drunkard, dis- 
ease and the falling away from him of his physical 
body result, he certainly goes on to another plane oi 
existence, where his experience will be more curative 
than it has been on this plane. Of one thing we may 
be sure, that the Infinite, which censors every change 
of one state of mind into another state of mind, will 
as instantly pass the drunkard's resolution of ab- 
stinence into his decision to take his last and fatal 
spree, as it will pass his decision to change from 
drunkenness into abstinence. He must gain his own 



220 The Thinking Universe 

experience and profit by it or suffer from it according 
to the extent that he has been guided by Rightness. 
That he is at the end of his experience when he drops 
this body given to him to express himself in Time 
and Space, Here and Now, is as unreasonable and 
contrary to everything that we see about us in Rea- 
soning and Unreasoning Nature as it would be to 
consider him "dead" because he has taken off his 
clothing and gone to sleep. His Consciousness — Rea- 
son — is Elemental, Indestructible, as is every other 
Elemental Consciousness. It is what individualizes 
him as a Man. Nothing like it is known to us in the 
Universe. It is one of the Elemental Expressions of 
Infinity, for it is Alone and did not come by chance, 
or partnership, or combination. It can be divested 
of nothing and remain Reason. It is indissolubly 
linked with the Subconsciousness, for without the 
Subconsciousness to prompt it to wrong decisions, or 
without the Supraconsciousness to prompt it to right 
decisions, it would have no office, and its indisputable 
purpose is to decide between what we call Right and 
Wrong. The human Subconsciousness, which thus 
must continue to exist to provide employment for Rea- 
son, cannot lose its consciousness of shape and form, 
and the spiritual body when divested of its fleshly ex- 
pression will always, as now, be filled to its fulness 
with Infinite Life, the Supraconsciousness. It must 



The Judgment Day 221 

be evident, then, that this unique combination existing 
on this plane must continue to exist in progressive 
degrees of Rightness on all other planes. If it is not 
so, if the Subconsciousness falls away at what we call 
death and disappears into its elemental atoms, as is 
the case with all other Subconsciousnesses, Reason, 
incapable of making any other partnership, would be 
homeless, purposeless, meaningless, and therefore un- 
like any other elemental Consciousness in the Uni- 
verse. It is inconceivable that this Supreme Con- 
sciousness, the possession of which makes Man the 
pinnacle of Expressed Life, should, for lack of a Sub- 
consciousness, be left as an indestructible, purposeless 
Thing. It is contrary to every manifestation of the 
Infinite's purpose, which in all Things holds forth Per- 
fection as the possible achievement of every Thing 
According to Its Kind. What, then, is the perfection 
of Reason — the human Consciousness? It is the ar- 
rival at RIGHTNESS OF ITS OWN FINDING. 
It must decide — and decide — and decide — and keep 
on deciding, through this life Here and Now, and 
through that life There and Then, until it reaches 
RIGHTNESS. Any other estimate of its purpose 
and perpetuity will not stand the scrutiny of even 
the unskilled. 

Either everything is governed by law or it is not. 
If it is not, then the countless billions of Things are 



222 The: Thinking Universe 

worked all at once in their different ways by the In- 
finite Mind without the intervention of an organized 
system which pre-supposes Law. To do this, the In- 
finite Mind must be capable of what to the Finite 
Mind is impossible, that of doing more than one thing 
at once, or of being in more places than one at a time, 
a state of things involving a contradiction of terms 
and instantly dismissed by the Reason. We cannot 
conceive of a motor car going in two directions at 
once, or of a man being in London and New York 
at the same time, or of thinking of food and philoso- 
phy at identically the same moment. There is no 
necessity to think of the Infinite as we understand It 
being in two places at once, as IT is Everywhere and 
Everything always. That It can do two things at 
once is in every respect inconceivable. As w T e under- 
stand the Infinite It does but one thing, i. e., Urges 
everything to Rightness of its Kind, and as thinking 
and acting are the same to the Infinite as they are 
to us, the latter the expression of the former, the 
office of the Infinite is intelligible to us as it can be 
in no other way. 

Try for a moment to imagine a lawless Universe. 
You can see nothing but chaos. The same argument 
that proves that the Universe is ruled by law proves 
that it is ALWAYS ruled by LAW, for if there was 
a moment when Law ceased to be it would be the 



The Judgment Day 223 

moment when the Universe ceased to be — Chaos. 
Next to Law comes Reason. Under the ONE IN- 
FINITE LAW— RIGHTNESS— Reason must and 
does rule all Reasoning Life. The Infinite does not 
reason, for reasoning is the process of arriving at 
Rightness, and the Infinite being always Right does 
not require to reason. Excepting Man, nothing re- 
quires to find Rightness, as each Thing after its Kind 
is ordained by the Infinite to a Rightness of its own. 
It is thus seen that Man stands beside and close to 
the Infinite, not "close" in a geographical sense, for 
the Infinite fills him to the fulness of his Conscious- 
ness, but close to the Infinite in the qualities and possi- 
bilities of MIND. Between the Infinite and the 
Human Mind there is and can be nothing but that 
constriction which makes the human being a Thing 
instead of the Infinite itself. In other words, each 
one of us is the Infinite knowing himself or herseit 
to be a man or a woman. That we know that this 
constriction exists is the reason that we know we are 
not in every sense the Infinite. It is because we have 
been taught that this constriction is greater, more 
tangible than it is, that we do not realize that we 
are as near to the Infinite as we are. Again let us 
remember that this nearness is not spacial, as we are 
filled to our fulness with the Infinite, but that it ex- 
presses a likeness of quality, of purpose, which to each 



224 The Thinking Universe: 

one of us should represent as an instant, propelling 
thing our possible perfection. When we fully recog- 
nize this we will cease to fumble in the darkness of 
Theological decisions to find the Holy Ghost or a 
personal Christ to act as an intermediary between us 
and that INFINITE of which we are, and which is 
of us. In the words of the Great Philosophy, "Why 
cry lo here ! and lo there ! The Kingdom of Good is 
within you." If it be a Kingdom, you are King, and 
you have no over-lord; the over-lord is within you, 
it is the YOU that is to be. It then must be thaFall 
the God, the Good, that you have, or ever will have, 
is within you, and the Infinite, Irresistible, Eternal 
Law of Rightness, working upon you from within 
you, with unceasing Urge, will force you to decide — 
and decide — and decide, until you arrive at a Right- 
ness of Your Own Finding, though it may take a mil- 
lion cycles of centuries before you arrive at the Per- 
fection which must ultimately be yours. "The Heav- 
ens and the earth may pass away," or seem to pass 
away, the sun and the stars and the planets may dis- 
appear, but YOU, in a spiritual body, capable of joy 
or suffering as you may bring it upon yourself, will 
still be deciding — deciding — deciding — until you be- 
come RIGHT. Would it not be well for you ti 
begin to pay that respect to Reason which is its due 
NOW? 



The Judgment Day 225 

"This, then/' cries some weak spirit, "is all that 
your philosophy has to offer us — an eternity of inde- 
cision." Not an Eternity of Indecision, but of Decid- 
ing. What is life, as we are living it now, but a 
sequence of decidings — of decisions? We decide to 
rise in the morning; we decide to eat our breakfast; 
we decide to go to work or play; we decide every 
hour how we shall conduct that which we engage in; 
and thus all day long we are deciding — and deciding 
— and deciding, until we decide to go to sleep, and 
wake up to begin deciding again. What would life 
be if we had no decisions to make? Would it not be 
a dead level, an unendurable monotony, to those who 
are given Reason to use, not to fold up and put away? 
Think for a moment of yourself with nothing to de- 
cide. You would be like the brute, the tree. If this 
philosophy, begotten of Science and Enlightened Rea- 
son, offers you an eternal opportunity of exercising 
your Consciousness — Reason — it offers you the eter- 
nal perpetuation of your personality by the exercise 
of which the Future becomes filled with possibilities of 
achievements and the joys they bring. Why do we 
keep our Reason busy with plans for Amassing 
Wealth, Obtaining Power, Becoming Popular, if it is 
not for the joy of achieving? The merest clod on the 
earth's surface finds its or his joy in doing that thing 



226 The Thinking Universe 

best for which it or he is fitted. A Future without 
this would be a Blank. 

Glance at the other side of the question — at what 
Theology has to offer you — a habitation in a City of 
White and Gold, Built Without Hands, Eternal in the 
Heavens. If you have the good fortune to enter this 
Abode of the Blessed — an entrance obtained by chloro- 
forming your Reason, not by means of it — you will 
be privileged to gaze through countless years of "joy" 
at God seated on a Great White Throne, with Christ 
on one hand and the Holy Ghost on the other, and 
you will have nothing to decide, for everything will 
be decided for you — you will be permitted to have 
no opinion, no vote. When the trumpet leading the 
orchestra starts Gloria in Excelsis, Gloria in Excelsis 
it must be, from the chief harp next the Throne down 
to the smallest penny whistle in the suburbs of the 
City of the Great King. When it is the thing to lol] 
around under the Tree of Life, then loll you must; 
you have no opinion, no voice in the matter. You 
are achieving nothing, you are going nowhere ; in 
fact, you are nothing, for without Reason and its 
exercise you cease to be a Man. When you pass the 
Devil chained to the gatepost, as it is supposed he will 
be if he can be spared from the management of Hell, 
you won't even want to give him a kick; you won't 
have spunk enough even to make faces at him, for 



The Judgment Day 227 

you will be wearing a Halo instead of a Conscious- 
ness. If it should so happen that you go to Hell, you 
have no choice whether you stay there or not, as to 
whether you roast — and roast — and roast, or not; 
roast you must. As you are being taught that Reason 
is apt to lead you to Hell and not to Heaven, you 
perhaps may take your Reason with you, and if so, 
you will be able to spend your time in working out 
the problem of how you got there and why, and in 
cursing either yourself or the Almighty, or both, for 
having been born a Reasonable creature who was 
given but few moments on earth to make a final deci- 
sion, without sufficient experience or evidence prop- 
erly to decide whether you were predestined to be 
damned, or to be damned because you didn't know 
enough to escape damnation. These are not alluring 
pictures, but Theology has nothing better to offer, and 
we must confess that the first one is no more inviting 
than the other is terrifying to those whose Reason 
finds them both impossible. 

Revivalists tell us that "now is the accepted time" 
to make a decision as to "where we shall spend Eter- 
nity" — that the decision must be final. If this decision 
is to be a general one as to whether we are to be or 
not to be on the side of Right, revivalists are wast- 
ing their time, for the Infinite has made the decision 
that everything must be guided by Rightness. It is 



228 The Thinking Universe 

the Infinite Law, Irrevocable, Unchangeable, Irre- 
sistible. All Unreasoning Nature, working out the 
purposes of its Consciousness, does RIGHT automati- 
cally. Reasoning Nature is forced to decide, at the 
instant of Conscious action, that for IT the action is 
RIGHT, or it cannot act. So by force of the Infinite 
Law we are all on the side of Right. Reasoning 
Nature, however, every time it Consciously acts must 
decide that the action is Right, and though it may be 
mistaken in its view of Rightness it is at perfect 
liberty to choose again ; it is impossible for it to make 
an irrevocable and final decision in any matter, even 
in such a grave matter as the salvation of the soul. 
Reason would not be Reason if it became set and fixed 
by an irrevocable decision. Reason is flexible ; it is 
the Adjusting Faculty; it is the means by which we 
adjust ourselves to our environment, or our environ- 
ment to us. Moreover, it is not desirable that we 
should do all our deciding at once, on all questions or 
on any question, for it would leave us with nothing to 
do, or in one particular instance with nothing in that 
regard to do. It is obviously preposterous to think of 
Reason being worked in this way. Your "day of 
judgment'' was the first day you were able to decide 
upon something that it was RIGHT for YOU to DO 
or HAVE. Your "day of judgment" has been every 
day since then, and will continue to be every day as 



The Judgment Day 229 

long as you live on this plane or any other plane until 
you arrive at RIGHTNESS. It is a prospect, not of 
terror but of glory, full of the variety which is the 
only charm of life Here and Now; great with the 
prospect of that rich Awareness of the thoughts and 
plans which other spiritual beings will impart to you 
as the Law of Gravity, or what represents it in the 
Spiritual World, draws you to your plane of non- 
sensuous density, but permits you, by the Law of 
Attraction, to assemble with your Kind. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

The Devil and How to Chain Him — Why Our 
Subconsciousness is Slow to Respond to the Will 

How this dear old world could have got along with- 
out the Devil is beyond our comprehension. The 
record of Things, back to a point anterior to which the 
memory of Man runneth not, shows that the Devil has 
either occupied the center of the stage at all human 
performances or has kept the human race busy dodg- 
ing His lures. Descriptions of His origin, begun in 
Mythology and continued in Theology, furnish no 
satisfactory information as to where or why He was 
born. In a vaguely general way we are given to un- 
derstand that He is a Heavenly Backslider who turned 
bandit or revolutionist, or something of that sort, and 
sought to put God out of business. If even a por- 
tion of what is said of Him is true He has kept the 
Almighty busy in holding His throne and supremacy 
against the onslaughts of Satan and His cohorts. 
Omnipresent, "almost" Omnipotent, very "nearly" 
Omniscient, it is prophesied that the traditional Devil 
will some of these days be captured and put in chains 
for a thousand years, though it is hard to conceive of 



The Devil and How to Chain Him 231 

an Omnipresent Satan, who is everywhere, and al- 
ways, tempting everybody at the same time, being so 
materialized as to be held by chains. Who is going 
to do this, or how, we are not told, but are led to 
understand that the Almighty will at last, goaded to 
fury by the outrageous conduct of His rival, make a 
desperate sortie from Heaven and "get" Him. When 
this takes place what will the world do without Him? 
Whom shall we have to blame when we go wrong? 
Or will it be possible for us to go wrong if the Devil 
is chained in the caverns of Hell or to the gate-post 
of the City Made Without Hands? If it is He who 
has been leading us astray, the cessation of His activi- 
ties will remove from us all inclination towards 
wrong-doing and we will become automatically right 
like other animals and all Unreasoning Life. Reason 
is that which enables us to choose between Right and 
Wrong, and if Wrong is so securely chained as prac- 
tically to put it out of existence Reason will be left 
without an office, purposeless, and, like all unused 
faculties, the machinery for expressing Reason will 
become atrophied and disappear. This, of course, is 
on the presumption that Reason is merely a physical 
faculty, not the Elemental, Indestructible Conscious- 
ness which distinguishes Man from other Animal Life. 
At the end of the thousand years, if the Devil is let 
loose again, Man, with atrophied Reasoning machinery 



232 The Thinking Universe 

— if such a thing be possible — will be an easy victim to 
His machinations. Reason, which of all things needs 
to be constantly exercised to keep its expressional 
machinery from degenerating, rusting, becoming atro- 
phied, would by involution disappear, and even the 
Devil would lose His interest in going about as a 
roaring lion when all humanity would be under His 
paw and as easy a prey as Adam was said to have 
been when the Devil got him before he was endowed 
with Reason and knew that his taste for apples was to 
cause so much trouble to the human race. 

Why the Devil came into existence, when the Infinite 
could have prevented it — and there cannot be two Infi- 
nites, God and the Devil — is by no one explained. 
We are led to believe that in some way He was a 
necessity, either to give a grimy background to the 
Glory of God or to work out the purposes of the 
Infinite. Surely the Infinite needs no background, and 
can have none, being IT all and EVERYWHERE. 
If Satan, then, came into existence to work out the 
will of the Most High, what was the purpose ? Obvi- 
ously it was to make Man possible, for Man would not 
be possible, he being the EXPRESSION of REA- 
SON, if he had no opportunity to use his endowment 
in a choice between Good and Evil. Was it necessary 
or possible to have a PERSONAL DEVIL? If Man 
could have Tiad individuality and perfection from the 



The Devil and How to Chain Him 233 

beginning, doubtless the Infinitely Wise and Loving 
would have made him so and kept the Devil off the 
scene. But Man was obviously intended to develop as 
he has developed, and it is inconceivable that Law- 
lessness, embodied as Satan, should be permitted to 
use His cunning to trap unwary victims. The princi- 
ple of NON-RIGHTNESS, the negative of RIGHT- 
NESS, was necessary, that Man, by choosing the 
latter more and more frequently than the former, 
might ultimately arrive at REASON MADE POSI- 
TIVE BY RIGHTNESS. Man's condition to-day 
represents the results not only of the decisions he has 
made, but to a greater or less degree the decisions his 
progenitors made. In this way he has not only his 
own experience, but to a greater or less degree the 
cumulative experience of his ancestors to guide him. 
He shows this by walking upright instead of on all 
fours, by eating meat as well as vegetables, by the 
color of his skin, by the absence of a hairy covering 
to his body, and in many other ways. Reason has not 
only developed apace with his animal progression, but 
has gone far ahead of it while influencing him. His 
SUBCONSCIOUSNESS, his Memory Life, is a com- 
plete storehouse of not only what has happened to 
him, but to all who preceded him in the line of his 
Kind. He is the reincarnation of his ancestors. He 
may show the traits of character or the peculiarities in 



234 The Thinking Universe 

appearance of one more than of all the others put 
together, but they are all there. He is not Conscious 
of this, but he is Subconscious of it. He is not Con- 
scious of the millions of things that his Subconscious- 
ness does for him every day : the respiration, diges- 
tion, circulation of the blood, distribution of the nerve 
juices, the workings of his muscles and joints and 
organs — these things are constantly being done with- 
out his Consciousness — Reason — being appealed to. 
With almost undisputed sway the Subconsciousness 
controls our animal life and directs to a greater extent 
than we are aware our intellectual processes. In 
adapting our body — as is its business — to its environ- 
ment, our Subconsciousness occasionally finds some- 
thing which arouses its Memory force so powerfully 
that it instantly adapts itself to a condition in which 
we were years ago, or which our father or grand- 
father, or great-great-grandfather, was in. This means 
that the environment of the Subconsciousness is not 
only that of Now, but that of Then, and were it not 
for Reason it would be stirred as greatly — if not to a 
much greater degree — by the environment of Then as 
it is stirred by the environment of Now. This recru- 
descence, caused by the outcropping of Memory en- 
vironment, may take the form of sickness or the im- 
pulse to some unusual, it may be improper act. It is 
the business of Reason at this juncture to declare 



The Devil and How to Chain Him 235 

itself as the LAW OF NOW. If it declares that 
Rightness is the Law of its Being and, holding this 
thought, goes into the state of mind of the Infinite 
within it — the Supraconsciousness — and becomes 
merged in that Infinite, as it can by asking that it be 
so, then the great Infinite Urge accepts that fixed 
point of Rightness in the Consciousness as the SET 
POINT OF RIGHTNESS for the whole Being, and 
Rightness prevails. If Reason, because of ignorance 
or sluggishness, does not resist but accepts the recru- 
descence, the re-opening of a Subconscious sore, the 
law of Then prevails and the whole Being takes on 
the symptoms and sufferings, and as a rule arrives at 
the identical result pictured in the Subconscious mem- 
ory. We all know how a perfume, a picture, a sound, 
will often bring a rush of recollections filling us with 
joy or sorrow. We physically feel the result of this 
rush of memories as pain or pleasure, thus showing 
how intimately our Subconsciousness is connected with 
our physical expression and the Past. In the same 
way our Subconsciousness is often aroused by a sight, 
sound, smell, taste, or feeling, to suggest to Reason 
that it declare some unusual or improper act to be 
Right; for the Subconsciousness knows, as we all 
ought to know by this time, that what the Subcon- 
sciousness cannot do without the sanction of Reason 
must be declared by Reason at the moment of action 



236 The Thinking Universe 

to be Right or it cannot become an act. In the 
recrudescence which took the shape of sickness, fol- 
lowing the Law of ITS BEING the Subconsciousness 
started to function for that sickness without appealing 
to Reason, and Reason had to come in after the fact 
either to alter or allow it. In the reversion of the 
Subconsciousness, the Memory Life, to a moral con- 
dition of Then, we see it is forced to obtain the sanc- 
tion of Reason before it can even begin to function 
the body into action. Its suggestion to Reason of the 
wrong thing is all the "temptation of the Devil" there 
ever was or ever will be. To the Subconsciousness, 
which is the only Devil there ever was or ever will 
be, the suggestion was Right, not Wrong. It has 
no so-called moral sense ; it acts purely as an animal 
thing, and purely according to the code established by 
experience. In acting thus it follows the Infinite 
Urge to Rightness of its Kind. So the Devil, after 
all, appears to be the Infinite itself, working our ani- 
mal nature according to its Rightness at the same 
time that it is urging our intellectual side to Right- 
ness of its Kind. We have already seen that the 
Subconsciousness begins its abnormal functioning in 
physical matters before Reason has a chance to be- 
come alarmed, but in so-called moral matters the 
Reason has to be appealed to before any action can 
be begun. This clearly demonstrates that which has 



The Devil and How to Chain Him 237 

already been stated, that as the Infinite censors all 
changes of one state of mind into another state of 
mind in Unreasoning Life before the change can take 
place, so Reason must censor and permit every Con- 
scious change of one state of mind into another state 
of mind in Reasoning Life before the action involved 
in this can take place. It is thus the traditional Devil 
disappears into nothing more serious than an oppor- 
tunity for adjustment of the Rightness of our Animal 
nature to the Rightness of our Intellectual, our Spir- 
itual nature. It cannot be otherwise, and Reason 
must do the adjusting, and do it in accordance with 
what it decides at the moment of Conscious action to 
be Right. 

Let us breathe a sigh of relief ! We have located 
the Devil and begin to see a way of doing all the 
"chaining" that is needed. This "chaining" consists 
entirely of our control by Reason of our Unreasoning 
but Powerful Subconsciousness — of our mastery of 
our Animal Nature. The law of the Subconscious- 
ness is what Paul meant when he said, "I see another 
law in my members, warring against the law of my 
mind (intellect) and bringing me into captivity to 
the law of sin which is in my members." And it is 
significant that Paul had not yet Theologized the 
Christ Principle to the extent of calling this "law" 
Satan. That he cried, "O wretched man that I am !" 



238 The Thinking Universe 

as we all do when we find that we cannot immedi- 
ately control our Subconsciousness, was due to the 
conviction that he had laid hold of a Principle that 
should instantly do this and his disappointment in 
finding that it did not work as promptly as he be- 
lieved it should. Why should we hope instantly to 
change the direction of our Subconsciousness if we 
realize that this law of our Animal Being has been 
for centuries of generations, guided by the Infinite 
Urge, building up a masterful experience of what it is 
best for us as Animals to do ? If it were made possi- 
ble for us instantly to change the direction of our 
Subconsciousness we would very soon ruin our Habit 
Life, and our perfection as Animals would disappear. 
It has already been seen that Reason does not always 
decide rightly, that it, as censor, often passes as Right- 
ness that which is a mere whim or excuse. In noth- 
ing is the wisdom of the Infinite more clearly shown 
than in denying us the power of controlling our 
Animal Life by mere whims and fancies ; by Reason 
NOT made POSITIVE in its RIGHTNESS. The 
incentive rendered necessary, of application — continu- 
ous effort to form a habit — would be removed if we 
could force our bodies instantly to conform to our 
whims. For instance, you might take a notion to be 
a pianist, and if you could force your Subconscious- 
ness at once to function your fingers into skilfully 



Th£ Dsvil and How to Chain Him 239 

handling the keys of a piano you would instantly 
obtain that which now requires years of practice to 
acquire. This would mean nothing to you, for every- 
one could do the same, or at least to that extent that 
they were appreciative of music. This is not in har- 
mony with the law of Progress ; it does not conform 
to that continual grind we see Everywhere, in Every- 
thing, that perfection may be reached. It would upset 
Habit Life — the Subconsciousness — which would no 
longer be repetitional in its workings, but await the 
whims of Reason. Thus we would be left to reason 
each time we desired to breathe, or digest, or function 
in any of the innumerable ways now carried on Sub- 
consciously, habitually. 

That it is easier to change our moral than our 
physical condition, i. e., it is easier to regulate our 
intellectual processes than our bodily processes, must 
be apparent, insomuch as the processes of the Subcon- 
scious are carried on until interrupted by Reason, 
while intellectual processes cannot develop into action 
until permitted by Reason declaring them to be Right. 
Thus bodily sickness may have an apparently firm 
grip upon us before we are aware of its seriousness, 
and Reason comes into action, either by declaring 
Rightness to prevail or sending for a physician that 
he may cause it to prevail. As has been pointed out, 
Reason is thus called into action "before" the fact in 



240 The Thinking Universe 

moral matters and "after" the fact in physical dis- 
turbances. It cannot be wondered, then, that Paul 
found it easier to declare his spiritual (intellectual) 
Rightness than to force his body to conform to this 
Rightness. That we can control our Animal Nature 
must be taken for granted, or our responsibility for 
yielding to our lower instinct must cease. Paul did 
not find this control, even though he describes him- 
self as having been "converted" by what is regarded 
as a "miracle." It is evident that Paul's conversion 
left him just as other men are, in perpetual conflict 
with his lower nature and with nothing to overcome 
it except Reason. It has been shown that even by 
Reason we cannot always instantly overcome it, for 
the thing that we are trying to overcome may have 
become so firmly fixed as a habit as to deserve well 
the name of "second nature." 

Let us now examine the equipment we have for 
overcoming that which in our Subconsciousness our 
Reason has decided to be abnormal. We have seen 
that to establish a habit — i. e., to induce the Subcon- 
sciousness to take some new direction, as in skilfully 
playing the piano — we must firmly settle upon the 
course to be pursued and patiently practice towards 
the desired end. In eliminating the abnormal from 
the Subconsciousness we must conform to its law as 
faithfully as when we desire it to do something new; 



The Devil and How to Chain Him 241 

we cannot force it. The Reasoning Consciousness 
has no more right to force the Functioning Conscious- 
ness than the Functioning Consciousness has to force 
the Reasoning Consciousness. Each is governed by 
its own law, and both by the Infinite Law of Right- 
ness which inhibits the intrusion of one Consciousness 
upon another. If, then, one Consciousness be not per- 
mitted to intrude upon another, how can Reason 
affect the Subconsciousness ? The law of the Subcon- 
sciousness makes it superlatively open to Suggestion; 
otherwise it could not become, as it is, a storehouse 
of cumulative experience with any advantage to itself. 
Every experience has been a Suggestion to it, and the 
memory of that experience is a Suggestion to it still. 
It is worked by the recurrence, forcibly or otherwise, 
of the Suggestions provided by this experience. We 
obtain a foothold in the Subconsciousness for a new 
thing, such as piano-playing, by almost innumerable 
repetitions of movements of our fingers upon the keys. 
After sufficient practice these movements of our fin- 
gers become a Subconscious Habit, which through 
continued practice becomes more thoroughly estab- 
lished and we become more thoroughly skilled. This 
is the establishment of the new thing by repeated 
Suggestion. Then to eliminate the abnormal we must 
work by Suggestion, as it is the law of the Subcon- 
sciousness. To those of us who have tried it, it is 



242 The Thinking Universe 

sometimes a very discouraging process, but if we 
examine ourselves we will discover that nearly all, if 
not all the discouragement has arisen because of oui 
ignorance of what to expect and how to expect it to 
arrive. 

In the first place, Reason must settle itself steadily, 
fixedly as to what it is RIGHT for us to have — nor 
generally, but specifically. Law does not deal in gen- 
eralities, but with specific instances. You must defi- 
nitely fix in your mind what it is you are going after 
and keep it from being mixed with anything else. 
This we call "holding a thought." You must clearly 
see that the thing you are seeking is RIGHT for 
YOU to have. Do not think about whether it is right 
for everyone to have it, but concentrate upon it being 
RIGHT for YOU to have it. This we call "fixing 
the thought," i. e., giving it a set position, making it 
the "Set" Point of Rightness from which your Sub- 
consciousness is to act in that particular regard. To 
be effective in this respect you must be clear in your 
conformity to the Law of Rightness, the Infinite, 
Irresistible Law. When you decide that it is RIGHT 
for YOU to have it, the "it" must be something 
which without equivocation it seems reasonable for 
you to have. If it is not so, Reason has not in its 
censorship actually passed the desired thing as Right 
and you cannot expect it TO BE. In removing the 



The Devil and How to Chain Him 243 

abnormal from the Subconsciousness we cannot pro- 
ceed by negation, i. e., to establish that the something 
there has no right to be there. The law of the Sub- 
consciousness, following the Infinite Urge to Right- 
ness, has placed it there, and consequently it has a 
right to be there and we waste our time disputing this 
right. Let us say that what we desire to remove 
from the Subconsciousness is its habit of functioning 
for Rheumatism. Every time we advance the subject 
of Rheumatism to the Subconsciousness we strengthen 
its Memory Life of Rheumatism and unintentionally 
fortify it in functioning for Rheumatism. Then we 
must leave the subject of Rheumatism alone. The 
thing we desire is RIGHTNESS of functioning. 
Then this becomes our "set" thought. The Subcon- 
sciousness, however, has established a Rightness of its 
own and this Rightness has produced Rheumatism. 
It is quite true that the Rightness in our Conscious- 
ness — in our Reason — points in a different direction 
from the Rightness of the Subconsciousness in this 
matter, but it is not sufficiently distinct to become 
immediately effectual. Then we must find something 
within our Subconsciousness the Rightness of which 
is equivalent to the Rightness we desire. This can 
be done by arousing the Memory Life to the Right- 
ness of its functioning on some special occasion which 
we can distinctly recall. Every sufferer from Rheu- 



244 The: Thinking Universe: 

matism, unless afflicted from early childhood, can 
vividly picture some occasion upon which the Subcon- 
sciousness seemed to be working perfectly. By re- 
peatedly recalling that occasion and that perfect func- 
tioning we can gradually make the Subconscious law 
of THEN the law of NOW. You know that when 
you are feeling bad and a friend comes in and re- 
minds you in a sympathetic way, i. e., in a way that 
harmonizes with your Reasoning processes, of what a 
splendid time you had had together a week, a month, 
a year, five years, ten years ago, you feel better, and 
to the extent that you enter into that thought of the 
"splendid time" you continue to feel better. This is 
but the arousing in your Functional Life of the func- 
tioning of that "splendid time," and if your ailment 
is not a serious one it is very likely that the abnormal 
functioning will be entirely replaced by the function- 
ing excited by the Memory Life. Here is an old- 
fashioned rhyme illustrative of this point: 

Little Tommy Grace 
Had a pain in his face, 

So bad that he couldn't learn a letter, 
When in came Dickie Long 
Singing such a funny song, 

That Tommy laughed and found his face much better. 

Amongst breeders it is well known that it is easier 
to revert to type — i. e., to bring degenerate specimens 
of a certain class to a higher degree of development 
by the infusion of a strain from highly developed 



The Devil and How to Chain Him 245 

specimens of that class — than it is to improve those 
same degenerates by infusing the strain of highly 
developed specimens of another class, and thus being 
forced to create a comparatively new class. Thus it 
is easier to bring degenerate Merino sheep, in the 
manner described, back into being fine Merino wool 
sheep, than it is by crossing them with Cotswolds or 
Southdowns to bring them up to a high standard of 
mutton sheep. Thus in developing the Animal Life 
the appeal to the memory of the animal's Subcon- 
sciousness is shown to find a quick response. It is 
this principle that in stubborn cases makes it neces- 
sary to find a responsive place in our Subconscious- 
ness before we with marked success can appeal to 
our Functional Life to harmonize with our Reason. 
You will find it valuable to remember this, for while 
it is by no means the whole system or only means of 
controlling our Subconsciousness it is illustrative of 
its law and will be found very effective. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Healing — How to Make Rightness Prevail in 
Your Physical Being. 

It may have seemed a long road that has led up to 
the point of how we can make Rightness prevail in 
our Physical Being, but it has been necessary that we 
should understand the incalculable share of the Infi- 
nite in the activities of all Expressed Life. We have 
found ourselves to be Expressions of the Infinite to a 
greater extent than was at first conceivable. By a 
slow but it is to be hoped not too tedious process we 
have found that within each one of us there is a full 
equipment for his or her Weil-Being. Within our- 
selves, it has been shown, each one of us has his own 
God, his own Christ, his own Holy Spirit, his own 
Devil, his own Past, his own Present, his own Future. 
We see the Infinite filling each Consciousness to its 
fulness, thus being our Good, our God. We see it 
answering to our call for Wisdom, Rest and Right- 
ness, thus filling the offices ascribed to Christ and the 
Holy Spirit. We have seen the workings of its Urge, 
causing our Animal Life to appear as our Devil, our 
Tempter, while working out the Infinite Purpose. We 



Healing-Rightness in Your Physical Being 247 

have seen that our Subconsciousness contains our 
whole past, the past of our progenitors from the be- 
ginning of Things, from which we can draw by means 
of Memory to an unlimited extent. We have seen 
that our Supraconsciousness — the Infinite within us — 
contains and has always contained all that the future 
has in store for us until we reach Perfection, and 
have found that we can draw upon it to an extent 
limited only by our Consciousness — our Reason. Sit- 
uated as the adjustor between these magnificent store- 
houses of the Past and of the Future, WE — REA- 
SON — have the Glorious Privilege, the Exalted Op- 
portunity of drawing upon both to create that NOW 
which we desire. WHAT WE DESIRE is alike m 
all of us. As to Health, we are not seeking for more 
than to be Well. As to Wealth, we desire no more 
than Plenty. As to Happiness, what we all desire is 
to be free from Sorrow and Care. Wherein we differ 
is in the Measurement of these blessings. Each Con- 
sciousness demands its Own ; it is the law of Egoism. 
No common standard can be invented, for no two 
things are alike. To force everything to be metred 
in one bushel measure — were it possible, which it is 
not — would reduce everything to a dead level and 
defeat the purpose of the Infinite. Each Conscious- 
ness must, then, decide what it is Right for IT to 
have, and upon the POSITIVE RIGHTNESS of its 



248 The Thinking Universe 

decision depends its possession or lack of Health, 
Prosperity and Happiness. We cannot consciously 
act until our Reason at the moment of action decides 
the action to be Right, but the excuse, the whim, the 
pretense with which the Reason sometimes tricks it- 
self or is tricked into a sense of Rightness sufficient 
to permit action, while often contributing to discom- 
fiture or disaster, never brings permanent good. If 
we are convinced that Reason, being the next greatest 
thing to the Infinite, can bring all good things to US, 
we must make our REASON POSITIVE IN ITS 
RIGHTNESS before we can hope for results. It is 
a lamentable fact that Reason is habitually employed 
by the majority of Reasoning Beings to bring into 
effectual action the desires of their Animal Nature 
by trumpery decisions of Rightness. Degrading itself 
from the high office which the Infinite intends it to 
occupy, Reason for a time becomes the strumpet of 
the Subconsciousness. What a ghastly thought ! 
That which is separated from equality with the Infi- 
nite only by its Consciousness, becoming the prosti- 
tute of Animal desires, is a sight of ourselves from 
which we shrink. But we must not shrink. The 
picture is repulsive, but so true to Nature that it 
needs no further elaboration. We alone are respon- 
sible for this degraded condition of things. Not only 
individually, but collectively, we contribute to the con- 



Healing-Rightness in Your Physical Being 249 

tinuance of this condition of things. As Religionists 
we have throttled Reason while we have built up a 
Theocracy, and as Reason had so little share in shap- 
ing it Reason does not accept it, and to a greater 
extent than any of us appreciate refuses to be con- 
trolled or even influenced by it. While and where it 
appears to accept it, its acceptance is not POSITIVE 
IN ITS RIGHTNESS; it is but an excuse that it is 
better than nothing. In their mistaken zeal for 
Rightness, Religionists have sought their Supracon- 
sciousnesses for Warmth instead of Light, for En- 
thusiasm instead of Wisdom; and while from their 
Subconsciousnesses they have produced the picture of 
a God too human, too material to be accepted by 
Reason, they have enhaloed it with spiritual charac- 
teristics so unlike the spiritual characteristics of our- 
selves that on this ground, too, Reason rejects it, and 
we are practically left without a workable or con- 
trolling Ideal of Good. Science, on the other hand, 
through the practice of caution in researches, has be- 
come over-cautious and has refused to give a place 
in its equations to anything that cannot be Sensed. It 
has been shown that in innumerable ways we all 
recognize as true things which cannot be Sensed but 
which influence our Reason Supraconsciously. In this 
way Science has left us without an ideal of Infinity to 
influence or control us, and both theologically and 



250 The Thinking Universe 

scientifically we have found ourselves unable to arrive 
at POSITIVE RIGHTNESS. By insisting upon 
ourselves being candid arid exact we can always know 
whether we are trying to trick our Reason into a 
momentary consent to some folly or using it legiti- 
mately to perfect our conduct. We must use it with 
the same scrupulous care that w r e use electricity, 
potent drugs, and the little competence we have saved 
to make comfortable our old age. As we cannot be 
reckless or jocular with any of these things, we can- 
not be so in using our Reason. This is not a philo- 
sophy precluding jocularity and freedom from care. 
On the contrary, it is the only philosophy which will 
give you happiness as a permanent asset and perfect 
security from carking care. We do not need to spend 
our lives watching like a cat at a mouse-hole fearing 
lest our Subconsciousness will slip out and get away 
with us. The less we tamper with our Subconscious- 
ness, with our Habit Life, the better; its habits are 
mostly good and will not be bettered by being inter- 
fered with by Reason. It is when a bad habit 
develops that we must become alert and strong; when 
our Reason tells us that there is an outcropping of 
some trait, some vibration, some functionings, what- 
ever we may call them, that indicate a reversion to a 
lower type. 



Healing-Rightness in Your Physical Being 25 1 

Now let us examine the methods we must employ. 
These methods are not given as prescriptions, but as 
furnishing an intelligible outline of how to bring into 
operation the laws whose workings are necessary. 
Let us settle ourselves down and feel ill for a few 
moments. The room feels hot and stuffy; let us have 
fresh air, for fresh air, if it is not blown in upon us 
with violence, is always good. Our lips and throats 
are dry and hot; let us have a drink of water, cool 
but not immoderately cold. The bed feels hot and 
lumpy ; we know it is not so, for it has been prepared 
by a careful nurse. But we must have Ease. Where 
shall we get it? Where does all Expressed Nature 
find Rest and Ease — Harmony? In the Infinite. How 
shall we get there? We are there. Let us become 
Conscious of being there. "Oh !" we cry, "we can be 
conscious of nothing but pain." Steady! We can 
become Conscious of changing our state of mind into 
the Infinite state of mind — Rightness — as readily as 
we can imagine we are being changed from one room 
into another. As if you were imaging yourself 
being moved from one room into another, image your 
mind as changing from a state of almost intolerable 
pain into a state of perfect Rightness. You say, "I 
have done this, but I feel no change. " Ah ! Your 
Reason did not really declare the change. You did 
not believe the change would be made or you would 



252 The Thinking Universe 

not so instantly deny that it had been made. You 
must believe in your doctor or he will do you no 
good. Try it again. Say to yourself, "I consciously 
change my state of mind into my Infinite state of 
mind — Rightness." "It won't work," you cry after a 
few moments. What won't work? "Why, the cure 
won't work." What do you think is the "cure"? 
"The changing of my state of mind into the Infinite 
state of mind." That is not the "cure." The chang- 
ing does not cure. 

Now seems to be the time to take another view of 
Reason. We have found it to be our Adjusting, our 
Guiding machinery, but on no occasion has it seemed 
to be our Power machinery. It is the steering-wheel 
of the car, not the engine. It can compel or propel 
nothing. If you are riding a bicycle you can steer it 
by the handle but you cannot move it. You think 
you move it by means of your feet and legs, but you 
do not. Your feet and legs are as much a part of the 
mere mechanism of locomotion as the wheels and 
chains beneath you. What is it, then, that moves the 
bicycle? Infinite Life, wherein is the essence of all 
Power. You remember the trouble you had in learn- 
ing to ride! At first your handle-bar was not even 
sufficient to guide the machine. It wabbled all over 
the place and fell down, and you with it. What was 
the matter? You were not POSITIVE in your 



H^ALING-RlGHTNESS IN YOUR PHYSICAL BEING 253 

RIGHTNESS. You were not POSITIVE that you 
could cqntrol the machine. Suddenly you rode 
away quite steadily — surprised yourself. You learned 
to swim, to walk, the same way. By holding the 
thought of learning to ride, swim, or walk, you 
"fixed" the Point of Rightness, and instantly the 
Power from the Eternal Stillness worked in you to 
the extent of your Consciousness. For an instant 
you forgot that you were on the machine or in the 
water, followed your instinct or the directions you 
had had, and away you went. In that instant you 
became Conscious of Power to do so. Remember, 
when you are seeking for Power from the Infinite, 
that it will accept no trumpery, "wabbly" decision 
from your Reason. At the instant of action it de- 
mands that you be POSITIVE in your RIGHT- 
NESS — not momentarily, transiently, but fixedly— 
before it permits its Power to act on your physical 
machinery and work your purpose. Your Subcon- 
sciousness coaxes your Reason when it suggests some 
Conscious action that is unusual or improper, and 
any excuse or pretense sufficient to release the "clutch" 
of your Will is accepted as enough and the Subcon- 
sciousness bounds into action. Your Supraconscious- 
ness — the Infinite within you — does not work thus. 
It KNOWS when your Reason becomes "set" by 
RIGHTNESS, and recognizes nothing but this. We 



254 The Thinking Universe 

have seen the wisdom of the Infinite in refusing in- 
stant control of the Consciousness over the Subcon- 
sciousness, as that would upset the Habit Life of the 
latter, thus destroying our bodies, and at the same 
time remove the necessity of protracted practice and 
application for the acquirement of any accomplish- 
ment, thus stopping our intellectual progress. If it 
furnished Power in instant response to our passing 
impulses, our varying whims, it would be doing the 
same thing, both as to means and results. 

In our studies Reason has been extolled as never 
before and exalted to the highest pinnacle upon 
which it has ever been placed, but we must recognize 
its limitations. It — Reason — is by no means the Infi- 
nite; it is the highest conceivable Expression of the 
Infinite, but it belongs to Expressed Life; it is a 
Thing. It has no power of its own. The Subcon- 
sciousness is the same. It, too, is a Thing, with no 
power of its own. They both work the Will of the 
Infinite. Each has a "set" Point of Rightness from 
which to work. The Subconsciousness works having 
as its "set" Point of Rightness that experience which 
at the moment of action is strongest in its Memory 
Life. The Consciousness — the Reason — works hav- 
ing as its "set" Point of Rightness that which at the 
moment of action seems Right for it to do — Best for 
it to do. To arrive at this point Reason is expected 



HSALING-RlGHTNESS IN YOUR PHYSICAL BEING 255 

not only to find out by searching its memory — the 
Subconsciousness — for light as to what has been best 
for it under similar circumstances in the past, but to 
look into its Supraconsciousness for direction as to 
what will be Best for it to do in the light of the 
future. When it does this to the extent of its capacity 
it becomes "set" in its Rightness and its decision is 
accepted by the Infinite, which at once affords the 
Power. 

Now, Mr. Sick Man, do you see where you arer 
You expected that the change from one state of mind 
into another state of mind would bring you relief. 
But it did not, for the "change" does not do it; it 
only places you where the Infinite will cause it to be 
done for you if you remain "set" in that state of 
Rightness long enough to demonstrate that you know 
why you are there and intend to stay there long 
enough to receive that which you desire. 

Let us try it again. You are perfectly relaxed. 
You have become thus by the thought of "letting go" 
everything in your Physical Being. Take three long, 
deep breaths through your nostrils — it is a good thing 
to give you a momentary grip of yourself. Say to 
yourself slowly and firmly: "I consciously pass from 
my present state of mind into the Infinite state of 
mind, into Rightness. I merge my Consciousness 



256 The Thinking Universe 

into my Supraconsciousness, and I am Right. My 
Consciousness — my Reason — is merged in my Supra- 
consciousness, my Infinite Rightness. I cease reason- 
ing. I am in Rightness, where I do not need to rea- 
son. It— is— RIGHT— for— ME— to— have— EASE 
— NOW. I am spiritually at ease. It is right for me 
to have Ease now. (Hush, dear man, that pain 
won't kill you. You are looking into your Supracon- 
sciousness now for what is best for your future. 
Pay no attention to your Subconsciousness and its 

pain-moanings of the past.) It — is RIGHT — for 

—ME— to— have— EASE— NOW. My Conscious- 
ness is merged in my Supraconsciousness, but my 
thought of Ease dwells in my Supraconsciousness as 
the "set" Point of Rightness for my whole Being. 
RIGHTNESS — Ease — is manifesting itself througo 
my Being. I am becoming easier. Rightness holds 
the wheel— the FATHER LIFE is at the helm." 

You begin to feel easier, and the longer you stick 
to it the easier you will feel. You may have to hang 
on to your bed-clothes with both hands, or clutch the 
hand of your nurse or friend, but do this as little as 
possible. Remain relaxed, SURRENDER COM- 
PLETELY! "Surrender what and to whom?" you 
ask. Surrender your Reason to your Supraconscious- 
ness, to the Infinite within you, as you do informally 
every night when you go to sleep. You have rea- 



Healing-Rightness in Your Physical Being 257 

soned yourself up to a Point of Rightness as to what 
you shall do. You have resolved to go into Right- 
ness and quit reasoning. Do it. Stick to it. The 
Infinite will not touch the wheel while you — Reason 
— have your hand on it. Simply hold the thought, 
Rightness, Ease. If your Reason bumps in to say that 
it is doing you no good, choke it off. It is doing you 
good. Reason in moments of excitement, pain, or 
fear, is almost invariably wrong, for in such moments 
it draws all its information from the Subconscious- 
ness, from the source of disturbance. When you were 
free from pain you made up your mind what was 
right for you to do. Then your Reason was working 
properly; you came to a "set" Point of Rightness. 
Now demonstrate that it was "set." You cannot rea- 
son and recover at the same time any more than you 
can reason and remember at the same time, or reason 
and intelligently act at the same time. You must quit 
reasoning, doubting, questioning, and remain in the 
Infinite Stillness till Ease steals through your Being, 
at first almost imperceptibly, then distinctly, and then 
you sleep. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

Hypnosis — Auto-Hypnosis — Control of the 
Subconsciousness. 

We have seen that Reason by means of its "clutch" 
— the Will — fails sometimes completely to control the 
Subconsciousness. We will now see that it NEVER 
controls it. If we were so constituted that our Reason 
had any control at any time of our Subconsciousness 
it would be found that it had it always. If it were a 
safe thing for it to have at any time, it would be at 
all times. We have seen, however, that it would not 
be a safe thing at any time, as it would upset our 
Habit Life, thereby wrecking us physically and intel- 
lectually. Doubtless you have foreseen this conclu- 
sion, as it is the evident outgrowth of the postulate 
that no Consciousness can force its will upon another 
Consciousness, that even the Infinite declines to do 
this. We have seen, however, that Reason greatly 
influences the Subconsciousness, which is necessarily 
very susceptible to Suggestion ; otherwise its vast 
fund of experience would not be valuable to it as 
Habit Life. It is the creature of environment, i. e., 
subject to the influence of that which is contiguous. 



Hypnosis — Control of Subconsciousness 259 

Rheumatic patients can anticipate the fall of the 
barometer, a change in the weather, consequent upon 
their Subconsciousness functioning in accord with the 
coming change of pressure. Every one of our five 
senses is continually suggesting to the Subconscious- 
ness ; Memory is continually suggesting to it. Reason 
when strongly developed furnishes a large and influ- 
ential share of its environment, but it by no means 
controls it, as the Subconsciousness by no means con- 
trols Reason. Experiments in hypnosis probably occur 
to the reader, in which it has been indisputably 
demonstrated that hypnotists can obtain control of 
the Subconsciousnesses of those who permit them- 
selves to yield to the experimenter. This appears to 
demonstrate that the Consciousness of the hypnotist 
can completely control the Subconsciousness of an- 
other, and if of another, why not of himself? Indeed, 
it has been the ambition of hypnotists to discover 
auto-hypnosis — i. e., how each person can obtain com- 
plete control of his Subconsciousness. That this 
would be a distracting and dangerous thing, utterly 
subversive of the intention of the Infinite, has ap- 
parently not dawned upon them. The Infinite does 
not delegate any of its elemental or absolute power 
to any Consciousness, thus preventing one Conscious- 
ness from wrecking another. If, then, this be the case, 
how is it that hypnotists apparently are able to con- 



260 The Thinking Universe 

trol the Subconsciousnesses of those who yield to 
them? In the first place, it is only those who "yield" 
to them, who consent to be hypnotized and manifest 
this consent by volunteering, coming forward, or in 
some other way mentally putting themselves in the 
position of consenting parties, who can be hypnotized. 
"But," you say, "if we consent to auto-hypnosis, to 
our Reason controlling our Subconsciousness, is it 
not the same thing? And if it is the same thing, why 
does it not work?" When we consent to the hypnot- 
ist taking possession of our Subconsciousness we ab- 
dicate our throne of Reason — we give it up to an- 
other. In auto-hypnosis we cannot do this with the 
same ease; and though it is possible to produce an 
auto-hypnotic condition, there being no Reason to 
guide the Subconsciousness after we have given up 
our own Reason to our Supraconsciousness in order 
to become auto-hypnotic we can produce no results 
except falling into a state of swoon. It may appear 
to you that we do not have to give up our Reason in 
order to obtain a condition of auto-hypnosis; but it 
is so. 

After recovering from an hypnotic condition the 
subject has no memory of what transpired during 
that condition, which proves that Memory Life — the 
Subconsciousness — is also alienated from its office dur- 
ing that state. We know also that we are not Con- 



Hypnosis — Control of Subconsciousness 261 

scious of what is transpiring while we are hypnotic. 
Does it not, then, appear that both our Consciousness 
and our Subconsciousness are temporarily alienated 
from their offices during a condition of hypnosis, in- 
somuch as one ceases to be conscious of what is trans- 
piring and Memory Life has no record of what 
has transpired during the condition? If by gazing 
into a crystal or by some other means of 
merging our Reason into our Supraconsciousness we 
obtain a condition of auto-hypnosis, we fall into a 
state in which we are neither Conscious nor Subcon- 
scious, and are left without either guiding or motive 
power — swoon. If we are not discovered while in 
this state and no means are taken to revive us, it 
means death if the auto-hypnosis is complete. Of 
course it is possible, where we are but partially auto- 
hypnotized, for something in our environment to 
arouse us to a more normal condition, but the experi- 
ment is certainly too dangerous to be tried. What, 
then, produces the hypnotic state from which we can 
be aroused? We know that it is not Reason acting 
directly upon the Subconsciousness, for the Subcon- 
sciousness is an Unreasoning thing, and consequently 
is not amenable to Reason as such, though it is influ- 
enced by its repeated suggestions. You never saw a 
hypnotist argue a subject into an hypnotic state. How 
is it done? Invariably the operator declares a cer- 



262 The Thinking Universe 

tain condition of things to exist. You are relaxed 
both mentally and physically, he tells you. You are 
not thinking about anything in particular, but gazing 
steadily, abstractedly, at some object. This puts you 
in the Infinite state of mind — Stillness, Rest — from 
which it is easy to move you into another state of 
mind — Hypnosis. He tells you to close your eyes, 
and you do so; this is the first step towards being 
hypnotized, as you consent to do as he tells you. 
Then he tells you that you cannot open them, and 
you cannot. What has been done? It appears un- 
reasonable to you that you cannot open your eyes, 
but you cannot "reason" them open. By training he 
has enabled himself, by strong mentation, to "set" a 
Point of Rightness for YOU. Where does he "set" 
this? Not in your Reason, for you reject it. Not 
in your Subconsciousness, for he cannot effectually 
"set" a Point of Rightness there any more than you 
can; it creates its own Point of Rightness. There is 
but one other part of your Ego in which he can "set" 
it, and that is your Supraconsciousness. And it is 
here that, without knowing it, he operates. By abdi- 
cating your Reason you merged it into your Supra- 
consciousness with the "set" thought of being hypno- 
tized — that thought being uppermost in your mind 
when you gave your consent, tacitly or otherwise, 
which was equivalent to your merging yourself— 



Hypnosis — Control of Subconsciousness 263 

your Reason — into your Supraconsciousness, as in 
sleep. Without knowing why we have very rightly 
called this condition "asleep." Now you are practi- 
cally in an hypnotic sleep, and the operator's Reason 
is in charge of your machinery. He declares to your 
Supraconsciousness that it is right for you to con- 
sider yourself a cat. This mental declaration, clear- 
cut, strong, he establishes as your Point of Rightness, 
and your Supraconsciousness furnishes the Power. 
Your Subconsciousness, having become alienated from 
its office, as your Reason has, its machinery is worked 
from this Point of Rightness in the Supraconscious- 
ness by it, and produces the sounds and motions sug- 
gested by the hypnotist. It will thus be seen that 
hypnotism is not Consciousness — Reason — acting upon 
the Subconsciousness, but upon the Supraconscious- 
ness, where it establishes the "set" Point of Right- 
ness which enables it — an outside Reason — to manipu- 
late the physical machinery of the Subconsciousness. 
This, however, will only work up to the point of 
what the subject's Consciousness, merged in the Su- 
praconsciousness, considers right. If the hypnotist 
asks a strong teetotaler who is under his influence to 
take a drink of brandy, or supposed brandy, the 
whole relation is disturbed, a new Point of Rightness 
is raised in the Supraconsciousness, the one estab- 
lished by the hypnotist is displaced, and the subject 



264 The Thinking Universe 

is widely awake with a disagreeable sense of some- 
thing wrong having been attempted. According to 
the "setness" of the Point of Rightness which is dis- 
turbed by the hypnotist, so the disturbance is — from 
the mere refusal to obey, to waking up and wanting 
to raise a row without knowing just why. 

We have seen that the operations of the human 
organism can be continued when both its Reasoning 
Consciousness and its Subconsciousness are tempor- 
arily alienated from their offices, i. e., merged in the 
Supraconsciousness. We now see the Supraconscious- 
ness managing things alone as far as the Ego is con- 
stituted, such Reason as gives direction to the body 
coming from the outside through it — the Supracon- 
sciousness. This gives us a glimpse of the Supracon- 
sciousness as the entire Power machinery, working in- 
dependently of both the Reasoning and Functioning 
direction of the Ego. The functioning of the body 
goes on as usual, impelled by the Urge to Rightness, 
but ceasing to store for future reference the experi- 
ence it is undergoing. Why does it not put this ex- 
perience in its collection? It is unconscious of it, as it 
is being worked from a "set" Point of Rightness in the 
Supraconsciousness, not on its own account, and what 
is happening to it is really not a part of its experi- 
ence. This is suggestive of the part the Subcon- 
sciousness plays whenever the Supraconsciousness 



Hypnosis — Control of Subconsciousness 265 

contains a "set" Point of Rightness and causes Power 
to be released in accordance with that "set" Point of 
Rightness. Before we proceed with this, however, it 
is well to take one more look at the state of existence 
produced by Hypnosis. We have seen that Reason, 
which adjusts our intellectual Being to its environ- 
ment, goes into the Supraconsciousness — the Infinite 
within us- — and ceases for the time being to perform 
its office. Moreover, the Subconsciousness, which ad- 
justs our physical Being to its environment, goes into 
the Supraconsciousness, leaving that Force to manage 
its machinery. Both emerge from this unimpaired, 
each taking up its duties exactly where it left off. 
How has the physical machinery, used to express 
these Consciousnesses, fared? After a subject has been 
hypnotized it is known to be easy to repeat the pro- 
cess, therefore it must be that the "clutch" of the Rea- 
son — the Will — or rather that which physically ex- 
presses it, is somewhat weakened. Throughout the 
period of hypnosis the machinery of the Subconscious- 
ness works exactly in its relation to its physical en- 
vironment as it was working when the Subconscious- 
ness became merged in the Supraconsciousness — that 
is to say, no change is made during the hypnotic con- 
dition to suit the physical environment. As this en- 
vironment is always changing, the absence of the 
regulator cannot be otherwise than comparatively 



266 The Thinking Universe 

harmful. Running at a set pace, the machinery must 
run down if the condition is unduly prolonged. Such 
results, however, as can be found are purely physical 
— ordinarily a slight impairment of expression. Thus 
we see that the Supraconsciousness is the mainspring 
of the eternal Ego, the activities of the Consciousness 
and the Subconsciousness not being necessary to its 
existence, but required only to give it individuality 
and expression in relation to Time and Space. This 
should answer the question, "Can Consciousness sur- 
vive the disappearance of the physical machinery re- 
quired to give it expression Here and Now?" We 
have seen the Consciousness and the Subconsciousness 
both resuming their offices after a period of suspen- 
sion as if nothing had happened. What happened 
during hypnosis was purely physical and took place 
without the concurrence of either. Does not this 
prove that they exist in relation to the Supracon- 
sciousness independently of any fleshly machinery of 
expression — machinery which we can understand as 
only for Here and Now? When we have parted 
from this machinery entirely the relation of the three 
Consciousnesses of the Ego to each other will remain 
unchanged. These relations, of course, are not those 
that exist in hypnosis, which is a temporary state, 
valuable principally as an experiment or an anaes- 
thetic. The relation will be that of our normal con- 






Hypnosis — Control of Subconsciousness 267 

dition, the Consciousness and the Subconsciousness 
continually adjusting our Being — our Individuality — 
to its environment as our Supraconsciousness in the 
course of our progress attains greater sway. To hold 
that human life ends with the final cessation of our 
physical activities, one must set in defiance the results 
of all psychological experiments and regard as un- 
trustworthy all our personal experiences. Every 
night in sleep we merge our Consciousness in our 
Supraconsciousness, and awake in the morning re- 
freshed. We see people lose their Reason for long 
periods and have it restored. We see patients under 
the influence of anaesthetics unconscious of the pass- 
age of time and insensible to pain, yet returning to 
Consciousness unharmed. Lastly, we have observed 
the Supraconsciousness — the Infinite in Man — man- 
aging the Ego without the aid of its auxiliaries, but 
guided by an outside Consciousness which has no 
physical relation to the Ego. Could stronger proof 
be required that our physical bodies are nothing but 
a mechanical means of expressing our spiritual selves 
in Time and Space, Here and Now? 

To return to the relation of the Supraconsciousness 
to the Subconsciousness, and to the influence of a 
"set" Point of Rightness in the former upon the lat- 
ter, it is well for us to remember that both of them 
are Thinking Consciousnesses, neither of them cap- 



268 The Thinking Universe 

able of Reasoning. It may seem unnecessary so fre- 
quently to recur to the difference between Reasoning 
and Thinking, but if you will examine your own 
habits of mentation you will see that you often con- 
fuse them. Our Supraconsciousness, being the Infi- 
nite within us, is always right and does not, and does 
not need to, reason, and as Reasoning is an active 
condition and the Infinite in us is in the condition of 
Stillness it cannot reason. Our Subconsciousness has 
as its "set" Point of Rightness that thing which 
Memory suggests at the moment of action as the 
right thing to do. It does not compare one thing 
with another, as it would if it reasoned, but one thing 
occurs to it to do, and that is the thing it does. This 
is acting according to the law of Rightness of its 
Kind. We know we cannot reason our Subconscious- 
ness into obedience to our will, though we know we 
can influence it by repeated suggestions. Is there any 
means of Thinking our Subconsciousness into action 
such as we desire? But thinking and acting have 
been seen to be practically the same thing — action in- 
stantly expressing the thought. Then thinking our 
Subconsciousness into thinking would be like acting 
it into acting — a confusion of terms leading nowhere. 

First let us put Reason where it will not interfere 
with thinking, for we cannot think and reason at the 
same time. We have decided that we desire to be 



Hypnosis — Control of Subconsciousness 269 

well. We will put it in a different shape. We have 
reasoned that we are spiritually perfect, perfectly 
well. With the Infinite everything is in the present 
tense — NOW. Our Reason is the law of NOW, and 
when we emphatically desire to be well we take the 
spiritual standpoint and declare we are well NOW. 
With this declaration, absolutely true in the spiritual 
sense — and we are operating on the spiritual plane to 
obtain results on the physical plane — we merge our 
Reason into our Supraconsciousness, into Rightness ; 
we become POSITIVE IN OUR RIGHTNESS, 
and Reason has nothing more to do with it. We 
have closed the door, with Reason shut up with 
Rightness ; it is the "set" Point of Rightness, ema- 
nating as its Urge within Rightness, "I am Well. T 
am Right." Now we have the two thinking activities 
of the Ego face to face ; the Ego is thinking, not rea- 
soning, and what is the thought? "I am Well. I am 
Right." The Subconsciousness, however, is thinking 
its Wellness, its Rightness, from its own standpoint, 
and is functioning for rheumatism, that being at the 
moment its strongest suggestion. We go back to our 
original definition of Thinking: "We Reason with 
our intellectual faculties, but we THINK with our 
whole Being/' This is obviously true. When we act 
we act with our whole Being, and thinking and act- 
ing are the instant expressions one of the other, so 



270 Ths Thinking Universe 

we must think with our whole Being. Thinking is a 
creative Force. The Ego is thinking; which thought 
shall prevail, "I am Well" or "I am Rheumatism" ? 
Shall the thought contained in our Infinite Rightness 
fail to assert itself because our Subconsciousness con- 
tains a different "set" thought of Rightness and one 
Consciousness cannot intrude upon another? What 
is the Ego? It is the expression of the three Con- 
sciousnesses; IT IS THE HUMAN CONSCIOUS- 
NESS. Shall warring factions prevent its perfection? 
What is to perfect it ? The Urge to Rightness ! It, 
the Ego, is thinking Rightness. The whole Being is 
thinking Rightness. The Supraconsciousness, guided 
by the Urge of Reason merged within it, is thinking 
Rightness. The Supraconsciousness pervades the 
Subconsciousness, and more than anything else con- 
stitutes its environment. In obedience to its own law 
— that it act from the strongest suggestion present at 
the moment of action — it thinks as the Supracon- 
sciousness thinks. Within the • Supraconsciousness 
Reason is whispering — whispering — whispering, "I 
am Well. I am Right." The Subconsciousness 
knows what this means, for it is not a fool thing, 
stubbornly as it may seem to act. It remembers when 
Reason was content, when it felt that the Ego was 
Well, and that condition, under pressure of the Urge, 
becomes its "set" Thought of Rightness. And now 



Hypnosis — Control of Subconsciousness 271 

the whole Being is thinking — thinking Rightness. It 
is harmonious in its ideal of Rightness. We hold the 
thought, our energy is concentrated ' in thinking, 
creating Rightness, and Rightness prevails — instantly 
if we are sufficiently concentrated and strong, gradu- 
ally if we have these requisites in a less degree. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

The Healthy, Happy, Prosperous Ego — How We 
Can Affect Ourselves and Others 

Let us remember that the Infinite Urge is as strong 
within us for physical as for moral Rightness, and 
that the effect of IT in both respects is commensurate 
with the rightness with which we employ Reason. 
In both cases Reason has to contend with the Habit 
Life — our Subconsciousness — built up by centuries of 
ancestors of varying degrees of intellectual and physi- 
cal fineness. As every Conscious action must pass 
the censorship of the Reason it is not hard to see that 
our Intellectual life is more easily controlled than our 
Physical life, the latter being carried on by a Subcon- 
sciousness that acts almost automatically and auto- 
cratically, having seldom been restrained by Reason 
and even less frequently directed by it. This being 
the case, disease and old age seemingly being beyond 
our control, things physical have been let go very 
much their own way, and we cannot expect suddenly 
to assert our Reasoning selves in the functioning of 
the body with complete success. "Complete success" 
would mean an assertion of Reason to the extent of 



The Healthy, Happy, Prosperous Ego 273 

living as long as we desired in the possession of un- 
impaired health and strength. Longevity has already 
been considerably increased by the greater prevalence 
of enlightened Reason in matters of medicine, sur- 
gery, nursing and sanitation. Within the past few 
years life insurance companies have extended what 
they call the "expectancy of life" in respect to those 
below the age of twenty, i. e., amongst those who 
have not really arrived at the age when their own 
Reason is regarded as sufficiently strong for their self- 
government. This would indicate that modern human 
beings have learned more about taking care of the 
health of those dependent upon them than they have 
about taking care of their own. We can be abso- 
lutely certain of further extending this "expectancy 
of life" as well as the happiness and prosperity of it, 
by using our Reason in directing the Infinite power 
within us in controlling the Subconsciousness, and in 
doing this we will not only be benefiting ourselves, 
but doing much for our offspring and their descend- 
ants, who will come into the world each with a Sub- 
consciousness better prepared for Reasonable direc- 
tion, i. e., more accustomed and more yielding to the 
suggestions of Reason. The extent to which we can 
prolong our lives will depend largely on our desire to 
live and the degree to which we exercise our Reason 
for that purpose. Excessive old age, accompanied as 



274 The Thinking Universe 

it usually is by mental and physical decrepitude, is 
not desirable, and if this decrepitude be reduced or 
caused to disappear the exceedingly old, until very 
old age is general, would still find themselves out- 
living the intellectual environment to which they were 
accustomed and secretly longing to join their friends 
of the past on the Other Side. These things and the 
general expectancy that people will at any rate pass 
away at from threescore years and ten to a hundred 
at the outside, will for many generations retard Rea- 
son from extending human life indefinitely. How- 
ever, we should not permit "general expectancy'' — 
the communal thought — which in its power to affect 
us is an underestimated force, to make us realize 
that we are looking or feeling old, or that we are 
old, until we are ready to admit that we are ripe. 
If we permit this we will lose the vigor and freshness 
of youth long before we should, and almost insensi- 
bly slide into a senility which never need be. 

When we are told we are sick, or feel we are so, 
we must instantly decide that there is a mistake some- 
where. The Point of Rightness we have established 
is Wellness, and the mere suggestion that we are sick 
startles the Infinite within us into denying that it is so. 

It may appear to you that when we make such a 
denial we are lying to ourselves, as the symptoms of 






The Healthy, Happy, Prosperous Ego 275 

sickness are apparent. For the last time let us en- 
deavor to become clear on this point. We have al- 
ready arrived at the conclusion that the Ego is In- 
finite within its Consciousness, and that this Infinity 
is that of the Thinking, not of the Reasoning Mind. 
The Reasoning Mind is powerless at any time to act 
except as an adjuster, and until it assumes a Point 
of Rightness the Thinking, the Acting Mind does not 
get under way. When this Point of Rightness is 
reached Reason must absolutely cease its conscious 
operations, or the Thinking Mind will act partially 
and clumsily as one in doubt of what to do. By 
Reason we have reached the point of believing we 
have the elements of perfection within us, and we 
must assume that we are perfect NOW, for the In- 
finite recognizes nothing but the present tense. This 
is obvious, for the Infinite, the Thinking, Acting 
Mind, can only act NOW; you can only act NOW. 
You may regret your action of yesterday, but you 
cannot act in yesterday NOW. You may plan 
what you will do tomorrow — this is reasoning — 
but you cannot act in tomorrow NOW. There 
is no time in which you can act but NOW. The 
only way to get health is to think it, act it, and 
that must be done in the NOW. Remember that 
when you are working your mind to obtain health 
you are working your Infinite mind and must Think 



276 The Thinking Universe 

in the terms of the Infinite. To do this, you must 
keep away from the past and future tense and ex- 
press yourself in the NOW. You are not lying to 
yourself nor acting a lie; you are simply expressing 
yourself Infinitely, and Infinitely you cannot be other- 
wise than Well. The symptoms that annoy you are 
not recognized by the Infinite, because they are of 
mere Time and Space, Here and Now T . When you 
assume the Infinite you must assume the same atti- 
tude towards these symptoms; they must be mean- 
ingless to you even Here and Now. You have passed 
from your Reasoning state of mind into your Think- 
ing state of mind and can no longer accept any evi- 
dence with regard to your Point of Rightness; that 
has been settled. Until you become Conscious of 
being in this Thinking, this un-Reasoning state, you 
are not endowed with power to become what you 
desire. This state of mind is expressed by the Christ 
Principle, "Ask what ye will, believing that ye have 
received it, and it will be given you." Asking, 
believing, receiving, are all Actions. All Action is 
Infinite in its source of power. Infinity is all NOW; 
Action is all NOW. Therefore the three things are 
all NOW — synchronous — in the Infinite sense all 
happening together. We must think in this Infinite 
way before we can obtain the use of or the effect ot 
the Inhnite power at our disposal. Do you now see 



The Healthy, Happy, Prosperous Ego 277 

the tremendous difference between Reasoning and 
Thinking? If you do, you have grasped the method 
of thinking with your Infinite Self; of using the In- 
finite power within you to the full extent of your 
Consciousness. Let us now apply our knowledge to 
the treatment of ourselves, but do not mistake illus- 
trations for prescriptions, for we must all recognize 
the fact that no shoe can be made to fit the bunions 
of every foot. Reason must always adapt the prac- 
tice to the principle. 

You wish to be prosperous. You settle on some 
starting-point on the road to prosperity. What ap- 
peals to you as your greatest need is a certain kind 
of employment or a certain sum of money; settle in 
your mind which it is, what it is, or if money, how 
much. You must be reasonable in what you decide 
upon, i. e., your Reason must settle to its entire satis- 
faction what or how much you have a Right to ex- 
pect. If you need money, do not say to yourself, "I 
might just as well ask for a million as for a thousand 
dollars; I am just as likely to get one as the other. " 
This is unreasonable, foolish. If your circumstances, 
or circle of acquaintances, or capacity, indicate that 
it w 7 ould be Reasonable for a thousand dollars to 
come your way, while it would be Unreasonable to 
expect a million dollars to do so, you cannot possibly 
hope to fix the million-dollar Point of Rightness in 



278 The Thinking Universe 

your Consciousness and begin to Think that you have 
a million dollars. Perhaps your Reason may sug- 
gest fifty dollars as the sum, and to go beyond this 
would be to fail in fixing a Point of Rightness in 
your Reason. You may wish for employment as a 
private secretary, commercial traveller, salesman in a 
store, as a bricklayer or carpenter. Consider which 
of these things you are best suited for; fix it in your 
Reason as a Point of Rightness ; then Consciously go 
into the Infinite. You may exclaim, "This is easily 
said, but how is it to be done?" Relax your body 
and settle yourself in a quiet place, and thus, free 
from physical inconveniences and other disturbances, 
close your eyes and say to yourself, "I consciously 
go into the Infinite state of mind. I become one of 
the Thinking Expressions of the Universe." You can 
do this as easily as you can think while sitting in your 
room, "I am going into the bank to get fifty dollars. 
I know it is there for me and will be handed to me 
when I present my cheque." In this instance you are 
consciously in the bank, asking, believing you have 
received, and receiving, it all happening at once in 
your mind. Thus you go into the Infinite. You have 
quit reasoning about the amount as you did before 
you filled in your cheque at the bank. You say to 
yourself, "I have fifty dollars." Repeat this with the 
sense of satisfaction that you would feel if you had it, 



The Healthy, Happy, Prosperous Ego 279 

because in an Infinite sense you have it; you have 
voiced your faith that you have it, and your voice is 
heard throughout Infinite Life; it is whispered every- 
where in the Universal Mind; it is in contact with 
every Consciousness, for the Universal Mind is Ev- 
erywhere. No Consciousness may make immediate 
response, none that could be expected to respond 
being in a receptive state, but the thought that you, 
Jones, potentially have fifty dollars now in the 
keeping of somebody else remains ready to slip into 
some Consciousness as soon as it becomes receptive. 
Repeated several times, the call to this receptive Con- 
sciousness becomes stronger and it says to itself, "I 
wonder how Jones is doing? The last I heard oi 
him he was hard up. I wonder if I could put any- 
thing his way? I feel that I ought to give him fifty 
dollars for that good turn he did me ! I will see that 
he gets it." Did you ever have a thought like this? 
If so, it was the call of some "Jones" that came to 
you through the Infinite, for the Subconsciousness 
does not suggest that sort of thing and nothing comes 
by chance. Now do you see how it works? If you 
are an architect and know someone is about to build 
a house or a business block it is easily seen how you 
can put it in his mind that you are the man for him 
to employ. If you are an artist you can see how a 
picture by you can be suggested to a probable pur- 



280 The Thinking Universe 

chaser. No matter what you want, fix it in your 
mind as a reasonable proposition, go after it, and 
you will get it. It is said that the most thorough- 
going cheat is the man who cheats himself in a game 
of solitaire; it is just as easy to cheat yourself with 
regard to having properly fixed a Point of Rightness 
as it is to take a peep at cards that the rules of the 
game demand should remain hidden. While noth- 
ing can be done to prevent people being dishonest 
with themselves if so inclined, it is well that we 
should make the process of fixing a Point of Right- 
ness and making it POSITIVE in our Supracon- 
sciousness so clear that there can be no misunder- 
standing. 

We understand that the source of all power is the 
Infinite, which is Static — Positive. As it is Omni- 
present, it contacts Expressed Life — its Negative — 
Everywhere, the urge of the Positive from within 
the Negative, causing Motion — Action. All Unrea- 
soning Life, being continually in a state of Right- 
ness, instantly responds to the contact according to 
the nature of its Consciousness. The Reasoning Con- 
sciousness contacting this Positive power cannot 
cause action until it fixes at the moment of action a 
Point of Rightness for itself, i. e., decides that it is 
right for IT to do the thing intended. The instant 
it has fixed this Point of Rightness its contact with 



The Healthy, Happy, Prosperous Ego 281 

the Positive becomes operative and power is released 
by the Positive, which enables the Reason to cause 
action. Its only possible action, except in digesting 
knowledge and deciding what is Right, is the releas- 
ing of its "clutch" — the Will— which instantly passes 
the thought to the Thinking Mind, the distributing 
machinery of which is the motor brain and nerves ; 
in this way the thought becomes the action. The 
office of the Will is to pass to the motor department 
the thought decided by the Reason to be right, and 
to hold it steadily there until it is told by Reason to 
release it and hold another thought. This is all there 
is of "Will Power;" it is no more than the "clutch" 
with which Reason makes its decisions operative; it 
has no power of its own. 

To illustrate "fixing a Point of Rightness," we will 
suppose that you are extremely anxious to catch a 
train, and glancing at your watch you discover that 
you have barely time to do this and must "make a 
run" for it. Reason has fixed running as a Point of 
Rightness, and away you go. You are doing some- 
thing unusual, and your Subconsciousness tells you 
that you are making a mistake, that people are laugh- 
ing at your haste, that you haven't time to catch the 
train no matter how fast you run, that you are per- 
spiring so freely that you will be in a mess even if 
you do catch it, that running will bring on heart 



282 The Thinking Universe 

trouble, that it isn't worth while. You have fixed 
your Point of Rightness and refuse to be dissuaded; 
your Reason adheres to its Point of Rightness; your 
Will fixedly holds in your motor department the 
thought of running, and you catch your train. On 
the other hand, your Reason may yield to fear of the 
bodily harm you may be bringing to yourself, or that 
you have miscalculated the time, and it causes the 
Will to let go the thought of running, you slacken 
your pace to a walk, and miss the train ; you did not 
hold your Point of Rightness. It is quite possible 
that in the first instance you held your Point of 
Rightness and yet missed the train; it was your 
Point of Rightness to run, and you ran, therefore 
there was nothing the matter with your Point of 
Rightness, for you ran. That you missed your train 
was caused by the miscalculation of your swiftness 
of foot or of the time at your disposal. To catch the 
train was not your operative Point of Rightness; if 
it had been, you would have remained at home until 
you dropped that Point of Rightness and set a Point 
of Rightness as to what you must do to catch the 
train. Do not confuse the end to be achieved with 
the means of reaching it. A desire to catch the 
train was the cause which moved your Reason to 
decide that you would run, and you ran. Your Rea- 
son could not fix upon catching the train as its Point 



The Healthy, Happy, Prosperous Ego 283 

of Rightness if it considered it an impossibility, any 
more than it could have fixed upon running as a 
Point of Rightness if you had no legs with which to 
run. Its first Point of Rightness was to catch the 
train; it dropped this while it was deciding upon the 
possibility of it. It decided that you could do so if 
you ran, and thereupon it set its operative Point of 
Rightness, which was that you should run, and you 
ran. Do you see that each Point of Rightness was 
effectual as far as it could go? 

Your desire to regain health causes your Reason 
to question the possibility of doing so; it decides that 
it is possible; it considers the means of doing so; 
medical aid having failed, it decides upon using men- 
tal means and studies every phase of this system of 
healing. It then directs its Will not only to contact 
its Supraconsciousness with the thought "I am well," 
but to maintain this contact. The Supraconsciousness, 
being the Infinite Life within us, is Positive, and the 
conscious contact of the thought with this Positive 
Life, so long as it is maintained, excites the action 
contained in the thought — the Positive acting upon 
the Negative and producing the action desired by the 
latter. The Reason thus, while being Negative to 
Infinite Life, becomes Positive to everything else in 
your Being, and while receiving energy from the 
Positive passes it out as power to do the thing it 



284 The Thinking Universe 

desires. This is becoming POSITIVE IN RIGHT- 
NES'S, and can contain no element of miscalculation, 
as Reason is dependent for results only upon Infinite 
Life, which is always Right; all depends upon the 
repetition and continuance of the conscious contact 
of the thought with the Infinite within you. To 
cause your hands to contact each other is easy; to 
keep them in contact requires concentration of 
thought; contacting your thought of Wellness with 
Infinite Life is just as easy; maintaining the contact 
may be a little more difficult, but quite as possible. 
If you desire to have electric light in your room you 
touch the button which causes the Positive and Nega- 
tive currents to act and re-act upon each other; to 
obtain health of body you must cause your Negative 
thought of Wellness to contact the Positive thought, 
Rightness. The law governing both operations is 
the same, and though the result may not at once be 
seen in the latter instance you may be absolutely 
sure that the law is working and the Wellness will 
appear. 

In making your body Right never forget the power 
of Infinite thought to reach the point of lesion and 
restore it functionally. In a previous chapter it was 
noted that that incalculable energy which projects 
light from the sun gives it a velocity of 180,000 miles 
a second, yet the power involved can be successfully 



Ths Healthy, Happy, Prosperous Ego 285 

and instantly resisted by a green paper blind a six- 
teenth of an inch thick. This power of resistance 
was shown to be the unconquerable nature of the 
"green" Subconsciousness of the blind, as physically 
it could no more stop a stream of sunlight than a 
paper pellet on the track could derail an express 
train. Your thought of Rightness which you project 
through your Being has even a greater velocity and 
power than the stream of light stopped by a blind, 
but it can be stopped quite as effectually by any Con- 
sciousness or Subconsciousness which has a right to 
resist it. Your only means of effectually reaching 
your disturbed function is by Consciously going into 
the Infinite, placing your fixed Point of Rightness 
there, becoming oblivious to the reasonings and 
clamorings of pain, and leaving the Infinite Urge of 
Rightness to do the work. "Becoming oblivious to 
pain," you say, "is easier said than done." It is till 
you have tried it and learned to fix the "clutch" of 
your will so firmly in closing the Sense intakes of 
your Reason that while you are aware there is pain, 
even agony, going on, it has ceased to be a part of 
you ; a mere incident which you cannot afford to 
cognize. This is a necessary attitude of mind not at 
all difficult to assume; you are simply in the Infinite 
state of mind, thinking, not reasoning, saying, "I am 
Right. Nothing can hurt me; do your worst!" It 



286 The: Thinking Universe 

takes some fortitude to hold yourself in this state of 
mind if you are attempting to banish an agony of 
pain, but in a few moments you will settle down to 
it with ease which will surprise you. Even in such 
serious matters as cancer, tuberculosis and heart 
trouble you can affect the functioning of the diseased 
part, and if this is done systematically and continu- 
ously you will become well. This work does not pur- 
port to be a "Family Doctor Book," with prescrip- 
tions for every imaginable disease, but it presents 
you with a principle which, if applied, will be 
effectual to the extent that its application is sincere, 
persistent and patient. It is a specific, and medicine 
has no specifics upon which it always relies except 
in a few simple instances such as sulphur for itch, 
quinine for chills and fever. If medical specifics were 
in existence they would not be good for you; you 
would rely on them instead of yourself and defeat 
Nature's plan by holding yourself helpless without 
them. A mental specific has a different effect, for its 
use teaches you to help yourself; you always have it 
with you, in you, but you must learn to use it. If 
at first you find it difficult, employ practitioners versed 
in the art of helping others, but do so always with 
a view of learning how to treat yourself. Practition- 
ers need not be afraid to teach others what they 
know of mental healing, for a diffusion of knowledge 



The Healthy, Happy, Prosperous Ego 287 

only extends the practice of that of which it is the 
basis, and it will be several generations before the 
human family will have so progressed as to be un- 
needful of help and instruction in this important 
matter. 

You may have often laughed at "absent treat- 
ments/' i. e., one mind influencing the health of an- 
other though the bodies of the two are widely sep- 
arated. If you examine the subject you will find it 
perfectly feasible. The mind desiring to affect an- 
other mind must have the name or description of the 
person to be so affected, in its Consciousness. By 
uttering the name or mentally giving the description 
of the person to be affected, while in the Infinite, the 
operating mind instantly contacts the Supraconscious- 
ness of the mind to be operated upon, for the Supra- 
consciousnesses of both are identical in quality though 
differently personified. If you are contacting the 
mind to be affected it is all that is possible, even if 
you are contacting the body as well, though in the 
latter case you have the opportunity of asking the 
mind to be operated upon to become receptive. This 
can be done in absent treatments by appointing a 
time at which the mind to be operated upon makes 
itself receptive, that is, frees itself from thoughts 
of other things; or it can be even more effectually 
worked when the Reason of the mind to be operated 



288 The Thinking Universe 

upon is in a state of sleep, i. e., merged in its Supra- 
consciousness. The operator in either case fixes his 
Point of Rightness in the Supraconsciousness of the 
Ego to be operated upon, and this Point of Rightness 
becomes that of the Supraconsciousness in which it is 
placed and its Urge works in the manner desired. 

The working of this Urge can be simply shown 
in putting oneself to sleep. With the body relaxed 
and comfortably situated, say to yourself, "I merge 
my Reason in my Rightness, in my Supraconscious- 
ness, holding the thought of sleep. I have ceased to 
reason; I think sleep, I think sleep now." Refuse to 
listen to anything that memory or the senses suggest, 
and persist in repeating, "I think sleep NOW." It 
is sometimes easier to vary the formula and dwell 
for a few seconds on the I (repeating your own 
name) SLEEP (merge my Reason into my Right- 
ness), NOW. Persistently do this with the idea that 
you are causing, creating sleep, and it will never fail 
you. 



CHAPTER XX. 

The Evolution of Christianity — Christian 

Science. 

The record of things since primitive Man wor- 
shipped ugly idols which he vaguely believed repre- 
sented an unseen Power or Powers, but which he 
really held to be the Power or Powers, as he could 
barely distinguish between the Expression and the 
Thing expressed, shows a continual betterment of 
ideals caused by, not causing, intellectual progress. 
When Constantine declared Christianity the State re- 
ligion of Rome it is well known that he accepted 
many conditions of the various forms of Paganism 
then extant which had been only slightly modified 
during the three centuries of Christian propaganda. 
It could not have been otherwise, for the edict could 
not have instantly changed the people of the empire, 
composed mostly of Pagans of many varieties, into 
austere Christians. Probably seventy-five per cent, 
of them had never heard of Christianity as anything 
but the fad of a few fanatics, but in obedience to the 
law they changed their temples into churches and 
gradually began to use crucifixes to replace their 



290 The: Thinking Universe 

idols. We can easily conceive that the forms and 
ceremonials were at first but little changed, as so 
many of them are still in existence, such as the celi- 
bacy of the priests and nuns, baptism, communion, 
the sing-song of responses and mass, bending down 
in prayer, penance and other self-inflicted tortures, 
including vows of chastity, poverty and silence. Tor- 
turing others for heresy has been forced out of 
fashion by Reason, but many of the vestments and 
genuflexions we can see today could have been seen 
in the Pagan temples before the Christian era. The 
advance of "Reason has been shown by the weeding 
out of some of these things and the elimination by 
many sects of some of the more barbarous concep- 
tions of the Infinite. If we examine the hymnals at 
present in use, however, we will still find many 
traces of Hebrew and other idolatries. For instance: 

There is a fountain filled with blood 

Drawn from Immanuel's veins, 
And sinners plunged beneath that flood, 

Lose all their guilty stains. 

Could anything be more barbarous than this concep- 
tion of regeneration, or more distinctly a feature 
handed down from the era when blood sacrifices, in- 
cluding the slaughter of human beings, were offered 
to propitiate enraged deities? It must be remembered 
that the idolatries of the civilization centering about 
the Mediterranean Sea and Persia had assumed a re- 



The Evolution of Christianity 291 

finement almost as tolerable to the Reason as the 
theologized Christian practices of the Dark Ages, and 
should not be mixed in one's mind with the atrocious 
ceremonials practiced by cannibals and other remote 
and barbarous tribes. The incense and the music, the 
dim light of the temples, and other sensuous sur- 
roundings were doubtless restful to the devotees. 
Without being aware of it, we still have these condi- 
tions in a modified form. The Reformation led by 
Luther somewhat loosened the hold of Ecclesiasti- 
cism, and this movement became broadened and 
strengthened by England's acceptance of Protestant- 
ism. Afterwards the cold, cruel logic of Calvin was 
softened and sweetened by the emotionalism of Wes- 
ley and the writings and preachings of Bunyan. 
Literature of a secular sort began rapidly to leaven 
the lump of Unreason. The last century developed 
many new movements to release Religion from the 
bondage of idolatrous and unreasoning beliefs and ob- 
servances. Foremost amongst these was Unitarian- 
ism, which accepted the historical Christ, but only as 
a Man. Its leading thinkers and those whom it at- 
tracted as its followers were persons of such high 
standing, intellectually and morally, that they became 
a profitable object lesson to the other Christian sects, 
even though they were ostracized from all religious 
conferences and held to be heretics certain of damna- 



292 The Thinking Universe 

tion because they did not believe Christ was God. 
Not having arrived at Positive Rightness they were 
not constructive, and the movement never grew into 
great proportions, though it had an incalculable effect 
in broadening and making more reasonable other sec- 
tarian beliefs. 

Universalism, born of the humane impulse to reject 
Eternal Damnation as unbelievable, had the same 
weakness as Unitarianism, but has done much to 
soften and make more humane the popular conception 
of the Infinite. 

The non-sectarian movement led by Alexander 
Campbell, whose followers styled themselves the Dis- 
ciples of Christ, had as its chief tenet the rejection 01 
the direct operation of the Holy Spirit upon the indi- 
vidual, holding that conversion was through the 
power of the Word, i. e., through Reason. It has 
fought Calvinism, Ecclesiasticism and many forms of 
emotionalism, and found many followers in the United 
States, as it is purely democratic in its Church gov- 
ernment. It has, however, by its confusion of the 
"miraculous" action of the Holy Spirit and the natu- 
ral action of the Urge to Rightness upon the human 
mind, and its practical rejection of both, failed to 
come much nearer Positive Rightness than the others. 



The Evolution of Christianity 293 

Theosophy and Spiritualism have been striving to 
obtain results from the occult without developing as 
a basis any scientific knowledge of the laws of the 
Unseen. They, however, have served the purpose of 
making us more familiar with the Intangible by teach- 
ing that the Real cannot be sensed. 

To Mary Baker Eddy must be given the credit of 
leading the greatest movement towards the establish- 
ment of the true Christ Principle that has been made 
since the propaganda which established the Christian 
era — the greatest movement, in fact, since the Begin- 
ning of Things, as the principle which she has re- 
vived has not been again Theologized, and is unlikely 
to be. With opportunities and concentration which 
came of protracted invalidism, she became peculiarly 
receptive to the Infinite Urge and conceived the truth 
which scientists were only beginning to demonstrate, 
that EVERYTHING IS MIND. Her study of her 
own case and of the Christ Principle as seen by the 
Light given her, that everything is Mind, developed 
her faith that all disease was a thing of the Mind, 
and that Healing must therefore be a Thing of the 
Mind. That she did not base her Faith on logic is 
not surprising. It did not come to her as a logical 
sequence ; it was more a revelation than a reasoning 
process. She expressed her contempt of the Physical 
Sciences because they were inconclusive, as they must 



294 Tut Thinking Universe 

always be until they accept the Infinite as a factor in 
their equations. She did not recognize that she was 
in possession of the one thing that the Physical Scien- 
tists lacked — i. e., an intake of her Reason kept al- 
ways open to the Infinite Urge. On the other hand, 
she did not recognize the fact that the Physical 
Scientists were in possession of a vast fund of knowl- 
edge that would have been incalculably useful in 
building her structure FROM THE GROUND UP, 
as she was unquestionably successful, so to speak, in 
building FROM THE SKY DOWN. She reasoned 
Deductively — i. e., from the higher to the lower; not 
Inductively — from the lower to the higher. She was 
probably not aware how she became Positive in her 
Rightness; doubtless she underestimated the share 
her Reason had in bringing her mind up to the con- 
clusion which her Supraconsciousness accepted as 
Positive Rightness and released the Power which she 
considered as a more or less miraculous revelation 
instead of as Light streaming into her Reason in a 
perfectly natural way. Her omission of the use of 
Inductive Reasoning in its fulness lost her the appre- 
ciation and sympathy of the scientific world and was 
largely the cause of the existing New Thought move- 
ment. That she arrived at her conclusions without 
submitting them to the test of every form of Reason- 
ing convinced the scientists that they were unsound 



The Evolution of Christianity 295 

and would not stand such a test. They were at fault 
in not tentatively accepting her conclusions as a factor 
and thus testing their own equations in order to find 
out why they were inconclusive — always halting at 
the supposed Unknowable. If she had accepted the 
conclusions of the Physical Scientists and reasoned 
them but one step further she would have found them 
Right. If they had accepted as a factor her main 
conclusion, that everything is Mind, and carried their 
own argument that one step further they would have 
found her Right. Marvellous as has been the pro- 
gress of Christian Science during the past half-cen- 
tury, it would have been incalculably faster had Mrs. 
Eddy given a REASON for the "faith that was in 
her." There would have been less scoffing about peo- 
ple "thinking" they were sick if she had explained 
that, everything being Mind, everything Thinks — that 
thinking and acting are identical. This perhaps would 
have necessitated the establishment of the difference 
between Thinking and Reasoning, and required that 
Reason be given the high place which is its due in 
arriving at Positive Rightness. She was right, of 
course, in her belief that reasoning was not a curative 
process, but at fault in not giving it the importance it 
deserves in arriving at Positive Rightness, from which 
Right Thinking must start. It is a mistake to think 
that the great mass of humanity can be readily con- 



296 The Thinking Universe 

vinced of the truth of anything which with the light 
at their command they cannot reason out for them- 
selves. It is well known that not all who try Chris- 
tian Science are able to "demonstrate" its truth, yet 
it relies almost entirely upon personal demonstration. 
Those who cannot believe until they understand, 
largely fail to benefit by Christian Science, while 
those who have a strong hereditary faith — i. e., a 
capacity to accept a thing as true until it is proved 
untrue — find the results obtained sufficient to estab- 
lish its truth. It is said one must become spiritually 
minded to obtain the benefits of Christian Science, but 
many realize, when attempting it, the difficulty of be- 
coming "spiritually minded" with no understanding of 
spiritual things except of a vague Theological sort. 
It is to be hoped that the establishment of the truth 
of Christian Science by physically scientific tests and 
the diffusion of the knowledge of the Infinite and the 
simplicity of Its workings will make the task of the 
Christian Scientists a hundredfold easier. 

It may be asked, "What will be the effect of the 
acceptance of the principle upon which The Thinking 
Universe is founded ? Will it be to release the masses 
from the wholesome restraints provided by Religion ?" 
What are these "wholesome restraints"? The prin- 
ciples of the Mosaic Law — the Ten Commandments 
— are mostly embodied in our civil and criminal laws, 



The Evolution of Christianity 297 

as they have been found to have been embodied in 
laws prior to those of Moses. Religion does not en- 
force these laws, or w r e would not have judges, and 
jails and policemen. They are the product of cen- 
turies of generations of reasoning beings who have 
found them expedient, and they w T ill continue to be 
found expedient. All except the Hebrews have been 
released from the idea that the God of the Ten Com- 
mandments is the God of the Jews only, and the 
emancipation of the majority from a belief in a per- 
sonal God resident in some aerial city is making great 
headway without any signs of increasing moral de- 
pravity. Surely at this age of advancement the fear 
of Hell — a place of unending physical torment — is 
not held to be a "wholesome restraint/' Its very un- 
naturalness has given to inconceivable torture the 
name of "hellish cruelty." The thought of it does 
more than anything else to excite disbelief in the 
reasonableness of all moral teachings, for people are 
apt to confound moral tenets with religious dogmas. 
The thought that if we do not arrive at self-control 
on this plane we must go on, and on, and on until we 
do obtain it, cannot but have a sobering influence 
upon the reckless ones who are so successful in 
flouting the idea of Hell that they have resolved to 
have a "good time" Here and Now and take chances 
of what will happen There and Then. The men who 



298 The; Thinking Unive&sS 

squander their all that they may for a day live like 
millionaires are almost unknown amongst reasoning 
beings who hope for a competence always and liberty 
to enjoy it. Such prodigality occurs frequently 
amongst those who fear prison and resolve to have a 
"good time" while they are at large. If we believe 
that our Infinite is within ourselves and that we have 
a capacity for Perfection no matter how humble our 
qualities and environment may appear, we are sure to 
be more self-respecting, and if we respect ourselves 
we will respect others. Amongst the millions who 
are already believers in or are influenced by Christian 
Science and New Thought, can you find any sign of a 
lowered moral standard? What better or more self- 
respecting citizens have we than they? We are con- 
stantly hearing not only of wonderful restorations to 
health, but of equally wonderful cases of moral regen- 
eration effected by Christian Science and its kindred 
cults. Drunkards and degenerates of all kinds have 
been uplifted by a restored confidence in their own 
worth. Indeed, if there be a generally accepted 
charge against Christian Scientists it is that they are 
offensively self-centered and contented with them- 
selves — self-satisfied. And why should they not be? 

The man who feels that he is the Infinite within 
his own Being knows that everything he desires is 
his ; that he only needs to become Conscious of hav- 



The Evolution of Christianity 299 

ing it to begin at once to enjoy it. The scrawny- 
flower, urged to Rightness but retarded by its envi- 
ronment of unsuitable soil, finds its pollen borne by 
the winds to suitable mates in more favored places, 
and calyx and corolla are enlarged and filled till the 
starveling bloom becomes a full, shapely and beautiful 
flower. It is so with all things in this Thinking Uni- 
verse ; thinking so makes them so. The Reason of the 
floriculturist may fix in his mind as a Point of Right- 
ness that the single shall become a double rose, but it 
is his thinking — acting — that guides the Urge within 
the flower to its complex beauty. He does not make 
it so; it makes itself so. In a like manner the man 
desiring a fuller life needs but to go into his Supra- 
consciousness to voice his call, which is instantly 
heard the Universe over, echoing in every Conscious- 
ness, heard perhaps by but a few, responded to per- 
haps, alas ! by none. Voiced again, and again, some 
Consciousness or Consciousnesses respond, and, in the 
parlance of the day, "things begin to come his way." 
Is he less than the flower, which "toils not, neither 
does it spin"? It but Thinks. If the man but rea- 
sons himself to a Point of Rightness and there quits 
reasoning, doubting, debating, and thinks for that 
which is reasonably his, he gets it. The Universe is 
responsive to Thinking, but human thinking must 
start from a Point of Positive Rightness arrived at 



300 The Thinking Universe 

by Reason. Whether we call this Point of Positive 
Rightness Reason or Faith means more than it seems 
to those who have faith but cannot give a reason for 
it. They are satisfied with what they have. But 
should they be ? To leave such a condition unchanged 
is to invite disabilities in their work as well as to 
leave those who must understand before they can be 
benefited, unreached. We have heard of Christian 
Scientists being haled into court for practicing Heal- 
ing without a license, or for neglecting to summon a 
properly qualified medical practitioner in cases of 
sickness which proved fatal. Why is this? Those 
who are prosecuted feel that it is unjust; but they 
must remember that the afifairs of the world are man- 
aged by Reason, ' not by Intuition. The Christian 
Scientist may KNOW he is right, but he cannot ex- 
plain it except by his demonstrations, his cures. 
These demonstrations, these cures, no matter how 
numerous they may have become, do not constitute a 
law. Until all failures to demonstrate disappear and 
every case is cured, or until Reasons can be given 
why cures or failures to cure ever take place under 
such treatments, Christian Science cannot be re- 
garded as a law taking its place with other accepted 
laws or as immune from them. It must become a 
reasonable thing. To do this, practitioners of all 
kinds of so-called Mental Healing should be required 



Th£ Evolution of Christianity 301 

to pass a licensing examination — not in anatomy, or 
chemistry, or medicine, or the fine arts, but in psy- 
chology, a knowledge of the operations of the human 
mind. As it is by mind that they seek to control 
mind, surely they should know its processes, both as 
to its control and its controllability, if they know any- 
thing. A man or woman who desires to practice 
Mental Healing could not reasonably object to prov- 
ing, by submitting to examination, that he or she 
knows all that is knowable about mind and its pro- 
cesses. The fact that a man or woman FEELS that 
he or she has the gift of healing is not enough in 
this age of reason, this age governed by habit and 
experience, to make them immune from various medi- 
cal acts when they practice for pecuniary profit. We 
may FEEL — i. e., spiritually know — that our wives, 
and husbands, and mothers and dear ones are chaste 
and .loyal, and no one has a right to demand that we 
explain why we know; it is our business, and our 
business alone, and how we know does not affect 
others. We may practice healing as we may practice 
the loving of friends, without enquiry being made; 
but when we make a business of it, it is the right of 
others whose businesses are affected to demand an 
explanation or cause our retirement from practice. 
This is the way the world is run; it is one of the 
"wholesome restraints." 



302 The: Thinking Universe 

That Christian Scientists are sometimes brought 
into court for neglecting to call properly qualified 
medical practitioners in cases of fatal illness of those 
dependent upon them, only proves the strength of 
their Faith, and possibly their lack of Reason. If 
faith, for which we cannot give a reason, is so great 
a thing, it is hard to see how Religionists of every 
variety, who are so dependent upon this sort of faith 
for the existence of their creeds, should not solidly 
unite to prevent such prosecutions. That they do not, 
but appear to receive the occasional convictions with 
approbation instead of resentment, simply proves that 
they know very little about either Faith or Reason. 
If death be the result of the Divine Will, Religionists 
have no cause to complain of this Will not having 
been interfered with by a regularly qualified physi- 
cian. They preach this, but they do not believe it. 
Reason tells them, as it does everybody, that various 
means have been established to prolong life, such as 
surgery, medicine, nursing and sanitation, and they 
insist that everyone shall have the benefit of these. 
Fortunately for those concerned, physicians, surgeons, 
nurses and sanitary inspectors are not punished by 
fine or imprisonment when they fail while using every 
means at their disposal, to prolong life. This is the 
recognition by Reason that the sciences referred to 
are not exact. That people should be punished for 



The: Evolution of Christianity 303 

not calling a physician when he can by no means 
guarantee a cure, while they believe a practitioner of 
the healing art can, if not interfered with by a doctor, 
restore the patient to health, does not seem fair, and 
that such prosecutions are rare and generally unsuc- 
cessful is a credit to the administration of justice. 

Christian Science instead of New Thought is used 
to bring out the above points, because the former has 
a well devised organization, which the latter lacks, 
and, composed as it is of incongruous elements, is in- 
capable of concerted action. New Thought is really 
the impulse of those who recognize that there is some- 
thing infinitely true in Christian Science but cannot 
understand it, to find something which they can un- 
derstand and which will produce similar results. They 
have found that in Stillness they find wisdom and 
strength, and though they recognize that it is from the 
Infinite they obtain these things by consciously going 
into It, they have been unable to explain why. The 
Urge within them impels them to seek the Truth, and 
in the Infinite they will find it. Man is too easily 
satisfied that he has found enough for HIM, espe- 
cially when he is Truth-seeking. Going into Stillness 
is not enough; we must go in and remain in it with 
a definite object in view, and the worthier that object 
the better it is for us. Going into Stillness in the 
spirit of near reverie may be restful, but it is other- 



304 Th£ Thinking Universe: 

wise useless. Going into Stillness with the object of 
inducing the condition of auto-hypnosis or partial 
auto-hypnosis, as is so prevalent in India, is idle, for 
we bring nothing back with us. Knowing where to 
go to seek something great — as in Stillness — is dimin- 
ished in importance when such retirements are not for 
the purpose of developing some great or worthy 
thought. As Formalism in Religion diminishes true 
Spirituality, so Formalism in everything kills that 
which it was intended to foster. This is suggested 
by the fact that New Thought — as it is now gen- 
erally known — has not developed any Great Thought, 
though many followers of it have written volume after 
volume of beautiful and helpful things. We all know 
that our Reason must be kept busy, either believing 
or disbelieving some special thing. In pursuance of 
this, many New Thoughters have taken up Vegetar- 
ianism or Reincarnation, or both. They cannot see 
that Vegetarianism is not vital either as a diet or a 
doctrine, and Reincarnation physically and spiritually 
impossible except in the sense that our ancestors find 
reincarnation in our Subconsciousnesses. This rein- 
carnation, however, is carried on by the continuance 
of life and has nothing to do with the death of the 
body and the release of the spirit at that time. To 
thrust the Ego, recently relieved from a bodily en- 
vironment, even r.ito an unborn Consciousness, would 



The Evolution of Christianity 305 

violate the Infinite law of non-interference with any 
Consciousness. It would defeat all that is accom- 
plished by heredity in the way of building up a Habit 
Life, and make the human Subconsciousness a much 
more imperfect thing than it is now. Another error 
into which too many New Thoughters have fallen is 
that of considering the human Ego to consist of a 
Consciousness, a Subconsciousness, and the latter's ex- 
pression — a body — giving no place to the Supracon- 
sciousness, but exalting the Subconsciousness to the 
superlative office of the Infinite within us. We can 
easily see that this error must necessarily do much 
to defeat the work of Healers who think directly to 
the Subconsciousness of their patients, when they 
can alone influence them through the Supraconscious- 
ness, except as their thoughts offer to the Subcon- 
sciousness appealed to suggestions of no greater pow- 
er than the suggestions continually being offered by 
memory and environment. They seem to recognize 
that Infinite Life does the work, but are quite at sea 
as to how it is done. That many of them succeed 
indicates that they have arrived at a Point of Right- 
ness within themselves which is accepted by Infinite 
Life — never jealous of its prerogative — and healing 
power released. If they better understood themselves 
and the processes of Mind their Consciousness would 
be enlarged and made more powerful to the extent of 



306 Ths Thinking Universe 

their knowledge, thus greatly adding to their suc- 
cess. All mental healing is accomplished through 
Faith — Reason made Positive in Rightness — but it 
does not follow that the faith is always well founded. 
Faith in anything, if sufficiently strong, will do the 
work. The intention of these studies is to establish 
a basis of ABSOLUTE TRUTH, so that all, not 
merely those gifted with strong hereditary faith, 
may benefit or be benefited. This basis can only be 
established by a knowledge of the Infinite law and 
the Elemental laws which express IT in things. 

To return to the "wholesome restraints" which 
would disappear if this law of the Ego be established, 
we have found none. Fear, that most weakening of 
all things, would disappear, and with it the power of 
Ecclesiasticism. On the other hand, what incentive to 
Rightness would disappear? Can you think of any? 
Can you think of anything alluring to those desiring 
to be right or even to be thought right, which would 
lose any of its potency or pass out of existence? 
Would the desire to do right become weakened? The 
man who lives Conscious that HIS INFINITE is 
within him, like Enoch, "walks with God." No greater 
nearness to GOD can be conceived, no more constant 
or powerful influence to GOOD could be found, than 
the consciousness, I AM THE INFINITELY GOOD 
IN MYSELF. "Will this consciousness come to us 



The Evolution of Christianity 307 

if we accept this law?" you may ask. It certainly 
will to the extent that you accept it. If you accept 
it to the extent only of ceasing to believe in a Per- 
sonal God it will not be an abiding strength to you, 
but the Reason that can carry you that far will carry 
you further if you seek Infinite direction. "But," you 
may say, "I may lose my belief in a Personal God and 
be left with nothing." As far as Truth is concerned, 
what you have at present is nothing; that you have 
been influenced by it must prove to you the strength 
of the Urge to Rightness within you which made 
of value to you as a guide something which did not ex- 
ist. This Urge will not cease, and will be of as 
much value to you in finding your way as it ever was. 
Indeed, it will be more valuable, because, bereft of a 
false faith, one is always more receptive of Truth. 
You need not fear. When you ceased to believe in 
Santa Claus you did not cease to expect as good 
things from the real givers of them as you did from 
the supposed giver of them. And you were not 
wrong, though you regretted the passing away of a 
pretty superstition. Surely you do not desire in your 
maturity to continue the Santa Claus illusion of a 
bewhiskered and impossible little fat man and a team 
of reindeer making a miraculous entrance into your 
house with Yuletide presents, now that you know that 
the givers of the presents are residents in the house 



308 The: Thinking Universe 

with you. How, then, can you fear the loss of an 
illusion that an impossible Personal God, or His im- 
possible Personal Son, makes miraculous entrances 
into your Consciousness, when your Reason tells you 
that the gifts and the giver are already within you? 
The loss of the Santa Claus illusion did not diminish 
your generosity in giving nor your gratitude in re- 
ceiving gifts, while your Reason was uplifted by re- 
lease from a deception which can only be excused on 
the ground of fostering in the childish mind the idea 
that all good things come from the Unseen, and this 
should be explained to youngsters when the time for 
disillusionment comes ; otherwise even the childish 
mind will resent, according to the strength of its Ego- 
ism, the thought of having been tricked. 

You may fear the ostracism of Orthodoxy if you 
announce your acceptance of Truth, but it is far 
easier and safer to live in the open than in partial 
hiding. Orthodoxy respects Reason even if it does 
not follow it, while at heart it hates pretense, though 
busy itself in pretending. Loss of social position 
should not, and seldom does, follow Right Doing, and 
when it occurs it is only apparent and temporary. 
Failing to go to church and listen to things you no 
longer believe may separate you from some valued 
friends, but you will soon realize that this separation 
would not have been possible if you had not over-valued 



The Evolution of Christianity 309 

their friendship. You may be appalled by the thought 
that church-going will cease, singing and praying 
and preaching disappear. Not so. The law of At- 
traction will not cease. Like will be attracted to like. 
The community impulse will be as strong as ever. 
People will assemble themselves as of old to hear 
that which pleases and uplifts them. There will be 
less noisy prayer, but more sincere turnings to the 
Infinite for guidance; music and singing will not be 
less popular, but more so, for the law of Egoism is 
the law of Expression, and he or she who feels full 
of Goodness and Harmony will voice the feeling. 
Organizations of people of similar tastes will not be 
decreased in numbers and influence or the doing of 
good, and preachers will be changed into teachers 
with ample scope for their energies. Indeed, in look- 
ing not only at this life, but at life on the plane that 
will follow it, one cannot help being impressed with 
the great share that Teaching must have in develop- 
ing Reason towards perfection in both. Doubtless the 
chief employment that we will find in our next state 
of existence will be that of Teaching. The Infinite 
Urge to Rightness is busied only in causing the vari- 
ous Expressions of Life to express their possibilities 
to the fullest. What is this but Teaching? — a thing 
which because of the popular underestimation of Rea- 
son has far too low a status in the professions, even 



310 The) Thinking Univsrss 

if it be allowed the privilege of calling itself a pro- 
fession. It surely cannot be that the education of the 
future, as it has been in the past, will be of the Out- 
side instead of the Inside. "Outside" education is 
the acquirement of things we can "show off;" "In- 
side" education is learning how to DO things, BE 
things. The law of Cause and Effect will become 
more than a phrase; it will be the mainspring of our 
conduct. 



CHAPTER XXL 

The Future Life, Revealed by the Law of 

Rightness. 

The greatest difficulty of Right Living is to divest 
ourselves of the grossness of our way of thinking. 
We can only rid ourselves of the coarseness of our 
habits of living by the development of the spiritual 
side of our Ego. After we have learned that our 
thoughts, through the Infinite in the Ego, can con- 
trol the body we are certain to become careful not to 
entertain thoughts which will damage our health, 
while on the other hand we will be persistent in in- 
viting and holding thoughts necessary to our bodily 
welfare. More will have been accomplished at this 
stage of our progress than is apparent at first glance. 
All thoughts of grossness and excess become abhor- 
rent to us because we know they damage us, and we 
consequently avoid the persons, places and things 
likely to suggest coarseness or excess ; thus a cer- 
tain amount of "spirituality" is obtained. We ex- 
amine our methods of making a living as to whether 
they are detrimental to our bodily welfare as well 
as our happiness, and learn that speculation, hazards, 



312 The Thinking Universe 

uncertainties of all kinds are disturbing and worry- 
ing and we avoid them, and the whole tendency of 
our thoughts is in the direction of legitimate busi- 
ness. In this way we become law-abiding, avoid idle- 
ness, gambling, profligacy, quarreling and war, and 
have unconsciously "spiritualized" our employments. 
When we have learned to watch the workings of the 
law of Cause and Effect we will only remember 
Yesterday to the extent of avoiding its mistakes, 
and will look forward to Tomorrow with a joyous 
certainty of doing something better than we did To- 
day. We have learned to pay heed to our Spiritual 
Selves, to watch and control our thoughts, knowing 
how much they mean as producers of health and 
happiness. If we have learned to watch our thoughts 
we are living on the Thought plane and have risen 
above that most undesirable of all things, gross Ma- 
terialism. 

Further to spiritualize our lives we must live as 
if Here and Now constituted but a rather pleasing 
incident preparatory to an endless life of progress 
There and Then. To do this it would seem profit- 
able to have a more distinct idea of what we will do 
and be after we cross the Street we call Death and 
live on the Other Side of the Way. 



The Future Life 313 

Reasoning by analogy the only difference we will 
find on the Other Side of the Way will be the ab- 
sence of our coarser bodies and of the necessity of 
ministering to them as to food, shelter, warmth and 
clothing. While we are relieved from providing these 
things, it will be seen that all employment connected 
with the production of them will also cease. All 
"material" things having been left behind us, it may 
seem puzzling what we are to do with ourselves, 
how we are to fill our time, what will be left demand- 
ing the use of our Reason. Supposing yourself to 
be in that favored condition of independence on this 
plane in which you would have to take no thought 
with regard to providing warmth, food, shelter and 
clothing for yourself and family, what would you do? 
It is a position that we all hope to achieve even Here 
and Now. Would you spend your time in eating, 
drinking, swaggering about the city, and winding up 
the daily round with sleep? If so, you would be 
getting no more out of life than you did when you 
had to work — not so much, for in working you were 
doing something useful. On the other hand, are 
you ambitious, when you become thus independent, 
to engage your faculties in making men happier, 
better and wiser? One is a material conception of 
the purpose of living, and the other the intellectual 
or spiritual view of what life is for. If on This Side 



314 Ths Thinking Universe 

of the Street you devote yourself so entirely to ma- 
terial things as to stunt your spiritual growth you 
will be lonesome and ill-at-ease when you move 
Across the Way, though you will find plenty of com- 
panionship among the spiritual runts in the sphere 
to which you will certainly gravitate, for the law of 
Attraction will cause you to assemble with your kind. 
As there will be no eating and drinking to fill your 
time, your Reason, impelled by the Infinite Urge to 
Rightness, will cause you to seek to develop yourself 
intellectually. This you will find can only be done 
There as it is done Here, by either improving your 
environment or getting out of it. There seems to be 
no way of doing either of these things without mak- 
ing an efifort to improve yourself, and to improve 
yourself you must try to improve others ; others in the 
same fix will be trying to improve themselves by try- 
ing to improve you, and the friction and stimulus of 
rivalry will be mutually beneficial. 

If we analyze our intellectual life as we find it Here 
and Now we will find that its chief impulse is a 
desire for companionship — a sympathetic environment. 
As animals we seek to be well fed, kept sufficiently 
warm — to be what is so well expressed by the word 
"comfortable." This desire to be "comfortable" is 
nothing more than the animal expression of our intel- 
lectual desire to be in a state of contentment — satis- 



The; Future Life 315 

fied with the thoughts and impressions continuously 
afforded by our environment for mental digestion by 
our Reason. This intellectual environment must con- 
sist of fellow-beings with whom we are in sympathy, 
or the intellectual productions of fellow-beings which 
are pleasing to us — what we know as "congenial 
companionship." We can find this companionship 
in books, music and works of art, more completely 
in many instances than in mental contact with our 
personal friends, for civilization is so advanced that 
reproductions of the works of the greatest minds are 
accessible to all, while personal contact with great 
men and women is limited to a few. The enjoyment 
we get out of a good book is afforded us by what 
the writer knows, not by what he is, for of the latter 
we may be entirely ignorant or unheedful. The in- 
tellectual pleasure we find in the personal compan- 
ionship of our fellow-beings with whom we come in 
contact is of the same sort — we like them for what 
they know more than for what they are or seem to 
be. It would seem, then, that intellectual companion- 
ship may be of a very impersonal sort, and intel- 
lectual contentment consist more of accessibility to 
what people know than to the people themselves. 

It has become evident in the studies we have made 
together of the unchanging law of Rightness that 
the human Consciousness and the qualities it ex- 



316 The Thinking Universe 

presses Here will be the same There, and it will be 
worth while for a few moments to examine the means 
of communication which will be afforded us through 
which we shall have access to the thoughts of others 
when divested of our fleshly bodies. Though but 
little thought has been given to this subject, there 
seems to be an erroneous impression amongst those 
who have considered it at all, that on the spiritual 
plane everybody will know everybody else and in- 
stantly cognize what everybody is thinking about; 
or that everyone will be a stranger to everyone else 
and know nothing of what others are thinking, and 
have no means of finding out. The latter is certainly 
so unthinkable as not to deserve attention. On the 
other hand, if everybody knows everybody else and 
is instantly aware of what everybody is thinking, such 
a thing as privacy will be impossible, and without 
privacy there can be no individuality. If Here and 
Now we knew everything about everybody else, and 
everybody knew everything there is to know about 
us, no one could have anything he could rightfully 
claim as his own particular possession. Acquaint- 
ance with anybody would be so instant and easy as 
to be undesirable, and if you think for a moment 
you will see that such a condition of things would 
bring us all to a dead level, and all effort to know 
or be more than we know or are would cease, inso- 



The Future Life 3 1 7 

much as we would know everything that everybody 
else knows and be conscious of what everybody else 
is conscious of. The human Consciousness will be 
as inviolable There and Then as it is Here and Now, 
and no one will know any more about you than you 
are willing for them to know. No one will see you 
because there are no eyes, no one will hear you be- 
cause there are no ears; all communication will be 
through the channel of Awareness. If you do not 
desire others to be aware of your presence they w r ill 
not become aware of you until you fix a Point of 
Rightness in your Supraconsciousness admitting their 
right to contact or influence you. When Here and 
Now you do not desire to see a caller you cause your 
servant to announce that you are "Not at home," 
which means that you are not at home to that person. 
In the spiritual world when others desire to see you 
they will have to contact you through your Supra- 
consciousness, which can say "Not at home" to them 
as easily as your servant did to your earthly caller. 
If through someone else who can acceptably contact 
your Supraconsciousness an arrangement for meeting 
can be made it will answer the purpose of an intro- 
duction, and your privacy will be preserved. 

We are again back to the old subject of the "set" 
Point of Rightness. There and Then it will mean 
everything, as it does Here and Now, though we do 



318 The Thinking Universe 

not recognize it Now as we will Then. You will 
"set" your Point of Rightness as to how you will 
appear to others, as well as if you will appear at all. 
Instead of carefully dressing for the eyes of your 
caller you will think carefully of how you desire to 
appear, and having arranged all this mentally you 
will fix it as your Point of Rightness and you will 
appear exactly as you arranged you should appear. 
In this way you will always be to everybody that you 
allow to contact you just as your Reason settles that 
you will think you are. If we examine this condi- 
tion we shall find it very similar to the one which 
exists now, everyone practically accepting us at our 
own estimate of ourselves. If we are conscious of 
not being fit for good society we do not get into it ; 
if, on the other hand, we are conscious that we are 
fit for such society we find means of getting into it. 
In the Future State we shall not be embarrassed as 
we sometimes are Here by not being able to dress 
in accordance with the usages of the society we de- 
sire to enter ; if when There we are conscious that 
our "fixed" Point of Rightness in matters of attire 
will be acceptable to those with whom we desire to 
mingle, we shall know that we are properly arrayed. 
You may think that this anxiety to appear well is a 
frivolous view to take of the Future State, but it is 
not; it is in accordance with the Infinite law of Right- 



The: Future Life: 319 

ness, and the further we progress the more anxious 
we will be to appear right as well as be right. Of 
course we shall make mistakes till we arrive at Posi- 
tive Rightness ; we shall often set a Point of Right- 
ness and admit others to an awareness of it, and the 
point will not please those it was intended to please, 
and they will make us aware of this. Our Reason 
may tell us Then as it does Now that we have be- 
come perfectly wise on some subjects, and we will 
admit others to an awareness of this opinion of our- 
selves, just as in the present life we communicate 
this intelligence by words or actions. Those who 
know we are wrong will make us become aware of 
this and we shall feel humiliated, just as we do Now 
when someone reveals our mistakes to us. We shall 
make friends and lose them; tiring of them, we will 
drop them; tiring of us, they may drop out of our 
circle. Our love of companionship will necessarily 
be greater than ever, as our only access to advanced 
spiritual thought will consist of the possibility of 
establishing an awareness with advanced reasoners or 
with those who have that privilege. To extend as 
far as possible this companionship we will endeavor 
to fit ourselves for it, but as this will necessarily be a 
more or less slow process we shall be forced to con- 
tent ourselves, as we are forced Here and Now, with 
the companionship of those we like and who are fond 



320 The Thinking Universe 

of us without being particularly uplifting in their 
influence. In this way we shall have glimpses of 
planes higher than ours, and lower than ours, but 
as Now the plane upon which we move will be the 
most important to us and the companionship of those 
upon it will be our chief interest. Is this not exactly 
the condition of things Here and Now? 

Perhaps it is difficult for you to realize a phase 
of life which consists entirely of companionship 
through Awareness. Did you ever see a little com- 
pany of children at play, or a child, alone as far as 
your vision goes, amusing itself talking and laugh- 
ing with some familiar childish spirit which is as 
real to it as a fleshly playmate could be? The child 
may have a stick of wood with a rag wrapped around 
it, and you may hear it addressing it something after 
this fashion: "Now, Ethel, you've got the loveliest 
silk gown you ever saw, trimmed with real lace and 
all covered with frills and beads. You have on the 
loveliest silk stockings and white kid slippers that I 
could buy, and your lovely blonde hair curls just 
beautifully. What lovely blue eyes you have, and 
such pretty teeth, and such del-i-cate hands ! You're 
the loveliest lady in the land, and we're going to a 
ball right now !" And the youngster dances around 
with the doll or stick of wood, and it responds to her 
as completely as if it were alive. The youngster has 



The: Future; Life 321 

simply fixed a Point of Rightness for the doll, and 
it thinks back to her from this Point of Rightness ; 
it does not speak, but she does — they are both on the 
same plane. 

A little company of children are arranging some- 
thing to play. A masterful little boy asserts : "I'm 
a millionaire and have just paid a million dollars for 
a yacht, and I'll take you all out for a cruise. 
(Chorus of children: 'Oh, isn't he rich!') Isn't it 
fine sailing away out of sight of land! ('I hope it 
won't storm,' pipes a little voice.) It won't matter," 
cries the boy. "This ship doesn't rock. What's that 
I see out there? It's an island, and that over there 
is a sail ! Aha !" cries the little captain, "it's a 
pirate! ('Will the pirate catch us?' whisper the 
children in terror.) I'm afraid he will," cries the 
captain, "before we can make land." Instantly the 
scene changes, and the awareness of the children 
changes to the new Point of Rightness fixed in them 
by their leader. "You are all drownded," he cries, 
"and lying on the sand of the island! (Instantly the 
children drop on the lawn and stretch themselves out 
as if dead.) The pirate caught us and threw us all 
overboard, and I rescued you and brought you to this 
island, but you're all drownded. Lie still! ('Hurry 
up,' whispers a little voice; 'I don't like to be 
drownded.') Never mind," shouts the lad; "I've 



322 The Thinking Universe 

been and bought a new yacht for two million dollars, 
and now 111 bring you all to and we'll start off 
again. " The little fellow had the power of fixing a 
Point of Rightness in the Supraconsciousnesses of 
his childish playmates, and they had not become suf- 
ficiently materialized to find any difficulty in being 
just the persons and in the conditions he asserted 
them to be. They had not yet received those hard 
jolts which are almost sure to cause us in later life to 
demand an objectivity of our thoughts which we can 
sense. In other words, their thoughts instantly be- 
came Things, regardless of the fact that they could 
sense nothing in their environment to confirm their 
awareness ; for the moment they and the things 
about them became what they thought they were; 
they were living on a spiritual plane, and their bodies 
and the things about them became unreal, while their 
thoughts, as in truth they were, became reality. 

"Except ye become as little children ye can in no 
wise enter the Kingdom of Heaven ,, (Harmony), 
says the Great Philosophy. Till you cultivate your 
Awareness to the extent of making real things that 
are not material, ye cannot enter the State of Har- 
mony. The things we so much prize Here and Now 
and the senses by which we appreciate them are but 
shadows of the real things of life and the Awareness 
which will make senses unnecessary. 



The Future Life 323 

We have seen that the privacy and individuality of 
every Consciousness will be inviolable There and 
Then as they are Here and Now; Here we protect 
our animal selves from bodily intrusion by walls and 
doors and other physical means, while we maintain 
the privacy of our Consciousnesses by silence when 
questioned with reference to subjects regarding which 
we do not desire to express an opinion, or when asked 
to disclose facts in our possession which we do not 
wish to reveal. In the Future Life we shall have 
nothing to protect but our Consciousnesses, and from 
these we can bar intruders by simply refusing the in- 
truder an opportunity to fix his Point of Rightness 
in our Supraconsciousnesses, as that would establish 
a temporary awareness of what we are thinking, i. e., 
how at the moment our minds are acting. Consider 
for a moment how important this is. In That ex- 
istence, as in This, there will be outlaws, and the 
penalty of their outlawry will be their lack of access 
to the companionship of anyone but their own class, 
thus forcing them to herd together in a "hell" of 
their own making. Reference to "outlaws" implies 
the existence of regulations adopted by those of the 
spiritual world similar to the laws expressing the 
Community Consciousness here on earth. These, of 
course, will exist and be administered as Here, locally 
and generally from centers of power. It is evident 



324 The Thinking Universe 

that the Future State will be a condition for the per- 
fecting of Reason and will be ruled by Reason, and 
that its rules (laws) will express the degrees of per- 
fection of Reason arrived at on its various planes. 
No penalty for infractions of these laws can be con- 
ceived except deprivation of desirable companionship 
— much the same in effect as imprisonment in this 
life but radically different in execution, as this de- 
privation of companionship will be inflicted by the 
individual instead of the community. It will not be 
necessary or possible to incarcerate the outlaw, for, 
as there are no physical bodies to confine or injure 
and the spiritual body being uninjurable except by 
its possessor, there will be nothing to fear from the 
outlaw but the annoyances he may cause. These 
annoyances must necessarily be unconventional at- 
tempts to enter into an awareness with those who 
do not desire such an acquaintance; they will be like 
the persistent ringing of earthly door-bells by ped- 
dlers, canvassers, tramps and beggars, annoying but 
not dangerous. That there will be such annoyances 
seems obvious, for life undisturbed by anything would 
be without incentive to effort. The continuous ap- 
peals of the unfortunate for better companionship 
will move progressive souls to missionary work — to 
the uplifting of those asking to be raised. Respond- 
ing to this soul-appeal for betterment, made continu- 



The Future Life 325 

ously and continually from the lowest to the highest 
spirits struggling for perfection, will be the chief 
occupation of those in the spiritual world, as it 
should be the chief business of those on this material 
plane. 

RECOGNITION thus seems to be the only worthy 
prize of the future, withholding it the only punish- 
ment. What is the prize for which we struggle Here ? 
Is it not RECOGNITION? Putting aside our strug- 
gles for food, raiment, warmth and shelter, what is it 
we are so eagerly seeking but admission to a better 
circle of acquaintances, "recognition" by those es- 
teemed our superiors? What is the "recognition" of 
others worth to us if it is not to enlarge our Con- 
sciousnesses of ourselves, to make us feel conscious 
of increased worth, this having as its climax a "recog- 
nition" of our own perfect Rightness? "Recogni- 
tion" is nothing but Reason RE-cognizing — taking a 
new view of ourselves or others. We are all burn- 
ingly anxious for others to take a new and more 
favorable view of us, of our attainments, our powers, 
our possessions, that we may be thus enabled to estab- 
lish a new and more favorable view of ourselves. A 
good opinion of ourselves, the best possible opinion 
of ourselves, is what we are after; this is the URGE 



326 Ths Thinking Universe 

TO RIGHTNESS in the Ego, impelling it Here and 
Now, as it will impel it There and Then, to PER- 
FECTION. 

These are not speculations with regard to the 
Future State, but reasonable deductions made from 
observations of the workings of the law of Rightness 
and its elemental auxiliary laws. Speculations have 
been avoided as unprofitable, and the space at hand 
will allow us to dwell but briefly on the workings of 
the laws we know Here and Now as they will be 
found There and Then. We have arrived at the 
principle governing things Here, and it remains for 
each one of us to reason out the workings of that 
principle There; it is a delightful and uplifting study. 
For instance, the Great Philosophy says there will 
be no marrying nor giving in marriage There. Fol- 
low this out to its legitimate conclusion. Marriage 
is a ceremony dictated by Reason as necessary for the 
protection of both the individual and the community 
in order that legal parents may be cognized by the 
law as the proper custodians of and providers for 
all offspring. As there will be nothing to provide for 
offspring but companionship, marriage will be an un- 
necessary conventionality in the Future State. It 
does not follow that the propagation of the species 
will cease as that species rises to a higher plane; 
nothing in Nature indicates this. On the contrary, 



The Future Life 327 

we know that the higher an animal rises in its grade 
of breeding the more valuable it becomes, and as Man 
rises nearer perfection it becomes more desirable that 
the propagation of the higher species should go on. 
True, there are no physical bodies to produce physical 
children, but there will be spiritual bodies to produce 
spiritual children; if it were not so, the beautiful in- 
stincts of maternity would remain unused for the 
countless billions of years during which spiritual 
women will exist. The relation of men and women 
as Positive and Negative forces will remain un- 
changed, and though the method of selection will be 
unhampered by the conventionalities of Now we may 
be sure the proprieties of Then will be insisted upon. 
Family ties, of course, will be loosened and the mere 
physical relationships of earth will gradually fade 
out of existence as spiritual beings find they cease 
to be helpful. Intellectual, spiritual attachments be- 
gun Here should develop in strength There, and 
every relationship that is reasonable — right — Here will 
find a congenial atmosphere There. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

Conclusion — The Office; of Reason in the 
Infinite Economy 

If anything can be proven by Reason — and we 
know of no other means of proving a thing to be 
true or untrue — we have in these studies demon- 
strated that: 

We are because Life is. 

Nothing anterior to Life is conceivable; the 
non-existence of Life is inconceivable, there- 
fore to us Life always was and always will be. 

Life and Mind are identical, as neither could 
exist prior to or without the other. 

While we cannot conceive of the non-exist- 
ence of Life, we can conceive of it being 
Alone, the Essence of all things, the Expres- 
sion of nothing; as the Universal Unit, Im- 
movable, having nowhere to move, but pos- 
sessing the power of causing Motion, it being 
Omnipotent, Omnipresent, Omniscient. 



Conclusion 329 

Without Motion nothing could be done, 
therefore its first process must have been con- 
ditioning itself for Action, which it did, inso- 
much as we see evidences that Action has been 
and is. 

It polarized itself ; became Positive and Neg- 
ative Life, acting and re-acting upon each 
other — the Positive emitting the Urge, the 
Negative responding by action. This being 
the law of Power Now, and as physical laws 
are unchanging, we have concluded that it was 
the law of Power Then. 

Positive Life, the Infinite Life, was Then 
and is Now Immobile, having nowhere to go, 
nothing in which to move. 

Negative — Expressed — Life Then became 
Motion and is Now Motion. 

Varying degrees of velocity in this Motion 
caused constrictions — vortices — of various den- 
sities. 

These were and are Elemental and Eternal; 
known to science as Atoms, in this work as 
Consciousnesses, a Consciousness being that 
which knows what it is and what it is for. 

The coming into existence of these Atoms or 
Consciousnesses was the origin of the period 



330 The Thinking Universe 

we know as Time and Space. The partner- 
ships, combinations and colonizations of these 
Atoms have produced Things as we apprehend 
them. 

Mind being the original and only creative 
element, everything was and is Mind, having 
the function inseparable from Mind, that of 
Thinking. 

In the above conclusions we have taken nothing for 
granted, but have reasoned from what we know to 
what must have been. Everything we have found 
being Good, we have concluded that everything is 
Good, and that the cause of everything is therefore 
Good, and that everything will be Good. It has been 
proven that: 

Every Thing, being Mind, Thinks. Man, 
being a Thing, Thinks, but he also Reasons. 

Man is the only Thing that Reasons. 

All Unreasoning Nature automatically 
Thinks from a Point of Rightness set for each 
thing by the Infinite. 

Man alone Thinks from a Point of Right- 
ness he is forced to set for himself. He is 
given Reason with which to "set" his Point of 
Rightness; he is given nothing else not pos- 



Conclusion 331 

sessed by Unreasoning Nature with which to 
find this Point of Rightness. 

No provision has been made by the Infinite 
to prevent mistakes in reasoning, or to provide 
against an initial mistake. 

The possibility of Man making mistakes is a 
part of the Omniscient economy; without it 
Reason would be useless, and Man impossible. 
Man would be impossible if he had no oppor- 
tunity to choose between Right and Wrong; 
his Rightness would be automatic like that of 
the horse or tree. 

The Infinite, being the Essence of Goodness, 
gave Man a sufficient equipment — Reason — to 
arrive at Positive Rightness. 

Man, to be a Man, must gain his Point of 
Rightness by his own experience or by profit- 
ing by the experience of others, and though 
this seems to us to be a tedious and painful 
process we cannot deny that it is so because 
we make it so. This in itself is a part of our 
experience. The length of time it takes Man 
to arrive at Positive Rightness is not consid- 
ered by Infinity, because Infinity cognizes 
neither Time nor Space. 



332 The Thinking Universe: 

Man cannot complain of the length or un- 
happiness of his experience, because he has the 
equipment within himself to shorten it or ren- 
der it less unhappy. If he had not this equip- 
ment he would have a right to complain, but 
a right to complain against Infinite Goodness 
involves a contradiction of terms which makes 
it impossible to believe that Man's equipment 
is deficient. 

Man's special equipment — Reason — being 
sufficient to enable him to arrive at Positive 
Rightness, is therefore sufficient to enable him 
to arrive at Rightness with regard to every- 
thing, regardless of the gravity or unimport- 
ance of the subject being considered. 

Man, therefore, can understand himself and 
his relation to the Infinite. 

If Reason can prove anything about itself, its office 
and capacity, the above conclusions are unshakable. 
Now let us consider the conclusions Reason has ar- 
rived at with regard to Man's relation to Infinity. It 
has been proved that: 

Infinity is the Supreme Ego. 

Man, with the supreme endowment of Rea- 
son, is the Lesser Ego. 



Conclusion 333 

Every Consciousness and Subconsciousness 
is an Ego. 

Each Ego, Infinite or small, is to itself the 
center of the Universe, each being conscious 
of its complete equipment for its own good. 
This is true of Man, limited as his Egoism is 
by his neglect of his Reason. 

Perfection of Reason will alone make perfect 
the Human Ego. 

The Infinite Ego compels the Lesser Ego's 
obedience only to its law of Rightness — the 
only Infinite, consequently the only unbreak- 
able law. 

Each Unreasoning Ego acts automatically, 
obediently, in harmony with this law. 

The Reasoning Ego is forced to fix at the 
moment of conscious action a Point of Right- 
ness of its own before it can act. 

Living is a continuous, progressive series of 
changes of the state of mind of each thing. 

Each change of mind in each thing must 
pass the censorship of the Infinite Ego before 
it can become the desired state of mind. 

The changing states of mind in the Human 
Ego are seen to pass the Infinite Censor with- 
out reference to what we call moral laws, and 



334 The Thinking Universe 

without regard to what is good or bad for the 
body or spirit of the Human Ego, these things 
being left to the censorship of Reason. 

Every conscious change of the state of mind 
of the Human Ego must pass the censorship 
of Reason. 

Reason is thus seen to run on the only line 
that parallels Infinity — running beneath it, it is 
true, but paralleling it in the geometrical sense 
expressed by the axiom that two parallel lines, 
if produced indefinitely, will never meet. The 
meaning of this axiom is thus fully seen, for 
nothing can be conceived except Reason and 
Rightness which could forever approach one 
another without meeting, the meeting some- 
where of tangible bodies being considered in- 
evitable by the assertion that they are ap- 
proaching each other. Reason can never be 
Infinity, no matter how nearly it approaches it, 
because it is a Consciousness, an Eternal but 
an Expressed thing, separated eternally from 
the Infinite only by its consciousness of itself. 

The Ego possessing it is Infinity to itself, 
the Ego being filled to the fulness of its Con- 
sciousness by the Infinite, which to the extent 
of the Consciousness becomes it, taking on its 
characteristics and shape. This explains why 



Conclusion 335 

Man, at all stages of his advancement, par- 
tially recognizing the Urge within him, has so 
long given human shape to Infinity, thus con- 
fusing HIS Infinity with THE Infinity. 

The proper recognition of Reason by each 
human being will spiritualize instead of mate- 
rialize the human race. 

Materialism, that gross conception of Man's com- 
position, purpose and place, which asserts that "Death 
ends all," has been stubbornly opposed by Religion 
of every sort, with but partial success it is true, 
because Reason has remained unsatisfied and true 
faith made difficult. For what Religion of every kind 
has done to stem the tide of Materialism, it is to be 
praised; for what it has left undone in this matter, 
as for what it has contributed to the continuance, 
the deepening, the strengthening of Materialism, it 
is to be censured. It would be as idle to assert that 
everyone who goes to church does so because he or 
she Believes in what is taught there, as to contend 
that everyone who stays away from church is ac- 
tuated by a dislike of Goodness. In each case how 
they act demonstrates how they think; the Infinite 
Urge to Rightness is the same in both; in their 
Reasoning alone do they differ. Those who go to 
church in search of Goodness are no better than 
those who stay away for the same reason; those who 



336 The Thinking Universe 

stay away in obedience to a low impulse are no worse 
than those who go in obedience to the same impul- 
sion. If there were more secular resorts where intel- 
lectual uplift could be obtained on the Day of Rest 
there would doubtless be fewer churches, though 
better ones, insomuch as the competition with En- 
lightened Reason would discourage useless harangues 
and wearying attempts at Emotionalism. 

Emotionalism has its place, but it is thinking — act- 
ing — not Reasoning. While the rhetorician convinces 
by his logic, the orator moves his audience by the 
magic of his thinking — acting. Not all preachers are 
orators; many of them can never hope to reach that 
distinction, but they all attempt to move their con- 
gregations without first convincing them. They would 
be more successful if they gave Reason its proper 
place and made it their business to convince their 
hearers of the logical soundness of what they have 
to say, before attempting to move them into action 
by Thinking — Acting — a part they have not mastered. 
We love the actor who has mastered his part ; thinks, 
acts it; who at the moment of expression feels that 
he is it. We know that it required careful study — ■ 
the exercise of his Reason — before he reached his 
Point of Rightness and was able to feel at the moment 
of expression that he was the thing he expressed. 
On the other hand, a poor actor may fume and strut 



Conclusion 337 

about the stage shouting his tragic lines, with no 
effect but to weary or amuse those of his audience 
sufficiently cultured to recognize his failure to reason 
himself Right before beginning to Think — Act. Even 
those persistent theatregoers, the "gallery gods," hoot 
in derision, for they know what he does not, that 
he is not Right. Occupants of pulpits are not im- 
mune from the same judgment and must learn that 
Reason rules every conscious human action — not some 
actions in some things, but all actions in everything. 
Elemental laws are universal, nothing can escape 
them; for if one part of the Universe were immune 
from such laws, such immunity would bring into the 
chaos of lawlessness those sections which were sup- 
posed to be law-abiding. If we are to be guided by 
Reason at all we must be guided by Reason entirely. 
No section of any civilized community is immune 
from the ordinary civil and criminal laws enforced 
because they are considered right— in harmony with 
Reason — by that community. Archbishops, bishops, 
ecclesiastics of all sorts must pay their debts and re- 
spect the personal and property rights of others ; their 
Reason tells them this is right. Can these same 
ecclesiastics expect what they preach, and how they 
preach it, to be kept out of the Court of Reason — to 
be immune from the laws of Reason? What have 
they that other men have not that would justify this? 



338 The; Thinking Universe 

They preach many things which time and again have 
been proved to be scientifically, logically impossible, 
and their only defense is that they have a right to the 
"faith that is in them, ,, obtaining this faith, as they 
claim, by a means superior to Reason — Faith. How 
do they explain how this "faith" is produced by 
"faith"? Did they get it in their hands or feet, or 
through anything but their intellectual faculties? If 
through the latter, they must get their faith in a 
Personal God as they get their faith in a stationary 
Sun, through Reason, with its seven intakes — the five 
Senses, Memory and the Supraconsciousness, the 
Infinite Life within us all. They do not claim that 
the Personal God or the stationary Sun is revealed 
by the five Senses or by Memory; it must be that it 
is suggested by the Urge of the Infinite Rightness 
within us, and proven true or untrue by our Reason. 
It does not matter whether it is suggested to us or 
was suggested to one of our progenitors; the sug- 
gestion must have come by this route. How did the 
suggestion receive expression if not through the 
Reason? How can the suggestion coming into the 
intellectual faculties of anyone, prophet, priest or 
poet, find expression except through the Reason? 
If it comes through the Reason it must be shaped 
by the Reason, colored by the Reason of the one re- 
ceiving the suggestion — for it is the business of Rea- 



Conclusion 339 

son, the only business of Reason, to digest, adjust 
that which comes to it ; have it purified in its reflective 
department by the Supraconsciousness before releas- 
ing its "clutch'' of the Will and passing it to the 
motor brain and nervous system to become the 
thought — the action — of the whole Being. 

A Personal God, and a Sun which rose and set 
respectively in the east and west, alike were beliefs 
of Paganism and early Christianity. The stationary 
Sun and the moving Earth when announced by Gali- 
leo w r ere treated as heresies, and Galileo imprisoned. 
Science has since so amply proven Galileo's theory to 
be true that all civilization, including the ecclesiastics, 
has accepted it; not that the Senses convince us that 
it is true, but because science has shown beyond ques- 
tion that it must be so. Science has been equally 
explicit in showing that the Personal God believed in 
by Christians is even more impossible than a Sun 
circling around the Earth, but Religionists have re- 
fused to accept its proof and have branded the 
scientists as heretics, though restrained by Enlight- 
ened Reason from imprisoning them. What more 
evidence have Theologians of a Personal God than 
their forebears had of a stationary Sun? Indeed, 
their ancestors had their Senses to convince them of 
the moving Sun, while of a Personal God we have no 
evidence, not even of our Senses, only an unauthenti- 



340 The Thinking Universe 

cated tradition which arose in the age of myths, while 
we have every scientific proof that can be desired 
that a Personal God cannot be Infinite and that the 
Infinite cannot be % Personal God. 

Can Theologians suggest any other means of In- 
spiration receiving human expression than through 
Reason? Of course there were the tables of stone 
containing the Ten Commandments, but who ever 
saw them, except Moses, and could personally testify 
that a Divine hand chiseled the inscriptions? 
The Israelites themselves, in the days when these 
tables were alleged to have been brought from Horeb, 
were distinctly dubious about their alleged super- 
natural origin or they would not have been so prone, 
after receiving them, to follow after strange gods. 

It is idle to claim immunity from the Court of Rea- 
son for the so-called Inspiration contained in Holy 
Writings. We must consider its validity, and in ex- 
actly the same way that we consider the validity of 
any other evidence offered to our judgment. We 
must keep open all the intakes of our Reason to obtain 
a proper verdict. It may be said that by closing all 
the intakes except the one admitting Light from the 
Infinite, we may obtain pure Truth. Not so. In such 
a condition Reason suspends its office and does what 
has herein been described as "going into the Infinite/' 



Conclusion 34 1 

from which it emerges without the record of any 
communication or knowledge of anything having 
transpired. This must be true, because Memory is in- 
hibited both from furnishing information and record- 
ing what happens. This condition is called Repose 
and, like sleep, is restful, but the only other result of 
it is upon the Consciousness — Reason — which emerges 
with THE KNOWLEDGE WHICH WAS IN IT 
subtly purified by contact with the Infinite. Thus it 
is seen that the only effect of such a procedure, out- 
side of its restfulness to the body, is upon Reason, 
which has been enabled to do better work. Mark 
that the effect of the Infinite Life is upon what is 
already in the Consciousness; the Infinite Life does 
not implant knowledge, it develops it. To implant 
knowledge would be to inject something into the 
Human Consciousness — Reason — and that would be 
an interference forbidden by creative fiat and de- 
structive of Man's Free Will, his Individuality. In- 
finity does not take the initiative; Man must do that. 
Every possibility is within him in the shape of un- 
germinated seed, valueless to him of course if he 
does not by Reason cause these thought-seeds to 
grow. Causing them to grow is the process we know 
as Study. We start to study a thing because some- 
thing in our environment, or those in charge of our 
education suggest it, that is, stir some particular seed 



342 The Thinking Universe 

within us into germination. We become more perfect 
in the things we study than in the things we do not 
study; if we could go to the Infinite and successfully 
apply for knowledge to be given us directly without 
the process of study, we would at once drop the tedi- 
ous preliminaries and cease developing Reason in a 
search for Rightness of its Own Finding. This 
would cause our reasoning faculties to shrivel, become 
torpid, and then atrophied. 

Man has not been provided with any machinery 
for either intaking or expressing wisdom, except the 
machinery of Reason. Why do those who intend to 
become professional pulpiteers go to college? Is it 
for the smattering they obtain of science, literature, 
arts and the dead languages, or for the training of 
their Reason? We recognize the necessity of any 
public speaker being able to express himself gram- 
matically, for if he fails to do so we instantly reason 
that if he does not know how to talk he does not 
know how to think ; or rather, does not know how to 
reason, for by reasoning he gets his language right 
before he thinks it, speaks it, unless his Subcon- 
sciousness has been so thoroughly trained by study — 
exercising his Reason — that his expression, like the 
expression of the trained pianist, is almost wholly 
Subconscious. College education is only useful as it 
places us nearer some Point of Rightness desired by 



Conclusion 343 

Reason. Theological students do not go to college 
to strengthen their Faith unless Reason has a part in 
the upbuilding of Faith; and if it has a part in the 
upbuilding of Faith it cannot be denied that it has a 
share in the shaping, coloring of that Faith, or that 
it has all to do with that Faith except the suggestions 
invited by it — Reason — from the Infinite within us. 
These suggestions can come in no other way, for if 
evidence were to be offered a man through some 
supernatural channel, such as a ghostly apparition, 
he would first of all be forced to convince his Reason 
that what he saw was a supernatural apparition, not 
a trick being played upon him by some of his fellow 
students. He would search his room for evidence 
that no one could enter except by supernatural means ; 
take pains to convince himself that he was awake; 
tax his memory with the details of what he saw and 
heard ; examine the communication he received as 
to its reasonableness, and probably scrutinize himself 
as to his sanity — his possession of Reason. This 
would be Reason's share in the incident, and it is a 
share which could by no means be dispensed with. 
All this is so evident that we cannot but wonder that 
clerics insist upon occupying the anomalous position 
in relation to Reason which has resulted in their 
being classified as belonging to the "third sex" — men, 
women and parsons. The first possible act of In- 



344 The Thinking Universe 

finity was the polarization of itself— becoming Posi- 
tive and Negative; this is the relation of the male 
and female found to exist in all Nature. In endeavor- 
ing to hold to the tenets of his "Faith" the parson 
refuses to accept the Elemental law of Reason, while 
in other matters he admits the necessity of observing 
this law. Thus, being neither Positive nor Negative, 
neither male nor female, it is not strange that his 
mentation is ascribed to a sex found nowhere else in 
Nature. If he examines his position in the commun- 
ity of which he is a part he will find plenty of evi- 
dence that he is tacitly regarded, as is well expressed 
by a phrase of the day, as being "Not quite all there." 
His congregation does not allow him to talk politics, 
does not expect him to take an active part in busi- 
ness, his amusements are restricted, his methods of 
living and bringing up his family over-scrutinized, 
and a "daily walk and conversation" demanded of 
him unlike that of his fellow citizens. These dis- 
abilities excite our sympathy but not our surprise. If 
the pastor demands unreasonable things of his flock, 
as he does when he asks them to accept unreasonable 
doctrines, it is not surprising that his flock and all 
similar flocks are unreasonable in their demancTs 
upon him. Without appreciating it they reason that 
their pastor cannot amount to much intellectually or 
he would not be a preacher; he would be a lawyer, 



Conclusion 345 

or a doctor, or something economically useful. As a 
rule they pay him less than anybody else with a simi- 
lar "education" is expected to receive, but, if we 
regard them as properly or even partially "converted," 
as much as they think he is worth, if not more. True, 
some churches pay their pastors what they consider a 
large salary, but they do it because they desire an 
attractive preacher, and from much the same motive 
that they individually pay their cooks unusual wages 
for serving unusually good meals. Successful re- 
vivalists are said to make money and to be the objects 
of disgust or envy, or both, of clerics who do not 
desire or do not know how to turn religious services 
into a circus, and these men should probably be 
classed not as clerics, but as clowns. These remarks 
are not made in any spirit of levity or fault-finding, 
but to show the existing and natural relation between 
those of the community who make their living by 
reasoning and those who get it by following a call- 
ing which rejects Reason as unnecessary and dan- 
gerous. 

Reference has been made in this chapter to the 
censure merited by the "Church" for what it has 
left undone to stem the tide of Materialism, as well 
as for what it has' done to deepen and strengthen this 
tide. Of what does this consist? Telling a man that 
he is a spiritual being and must live forever does him 



346 The Thinking Universe 

no good if accompanied by a picture of the Here- 
after so dull, uninviting and unnatural as to Heaven, 
so horrible and fiendishly cruel as to Hell, that his 
Reason rejects both and in his weariness he decides 
that death ends all. Man is not naturally a Ma- 
terialist, for the most barbarous tribes believe in a 
Deity and future life of some sort. Materialism ob- 
tains its grip through the materialization of our Deity 
and future state. Christianity is only ahead of 
Paganism in this respect insomuch as its pictures are 
more refined though perhaps less alluring, but none 
the less impossible — they are still the pictures of a 
Material God and a Material Heaven. It claims its 
God as the Infinite, which is impossible if God be a 
person at all, even a spiritual person, for to be a 
person God must have form and size, which the In- 
finite cannot have, as it is Everywhere, Everything, 
Always, with no possibility of having outlines, as 
there is nothing to outline and nothing from which 
the outlines could separate It. Neither can there 
be a Material Heaven or a Material Hell, with ma- 
terial pleasures in one and material tortures in the 
other, for all sensual pleasures and pains must be left 
behind with the bodies that can apprehend them. 
The real pleasures, pains and possibilities of the future 
as suggested to us by Reason are never depicted, and 
the great masses of humanity cling to material things 



Conclusion 347 

as being all that is worth while, or so nearly all that 
is worth while that they are willing to take chances 
of getting their share of what is left over. The doc- 
trine that Man is completely equipped to take care of 
himself Here as well as There is never preached. In 
matters of health he is encouraged to believe that his 
spirit does not control his body, and that when he is 
sick he is the victim of an "act of Providence," what- 
ever that means. As to "Sin," he is taught that he 
didn't start it, can't stop it, and can only escape 
from its penalties by "clinging to the Cross." To 
change Man's attitude towards Infinity; to uplift him 
into a consciousness of being his own Infinity; to stir 
his Reason into grasping the fact that he is perfectly 
equipped for every emergency; to point him to the 
power he has within him to grapple with sickness and 
sin, is the aim of The Thinking Universe. That its 
logic will be at once accepted by the Theologians is 
not expected, nor is it feared that all the seed sown 
will fall upon rocks and desert places and fail to 
germinate. The comforting thought remains with us 
that no matter what happens Man will go on Reason- 
ing until he becomes Positive in his Rightness, and 
the Universe will continue Thinking, always Positive 
in its Rightness. There is no end. Until we meet 
again, 

SALUTAMUS. 



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